TBAGM Vol. 3 Chapter 3 Part 3 & Interlude

It took me several dozen minutes to explain the current situation.

After hearing everything, Kyros wore a complicated expression.

“I see… so he really was alive after all.”

“After all?”

I doubted my own ears.

“Come with me. There’s something I want to show you.”

After that, Kyros led me down into the guild’s underground level.

When we reached our destination, Kyros turned to me and asked,

“Do you know anything about this place?”

Before us stood a heavily locked door.

Compared to the other rooms, the level of security was clearly on a completely different scale. In addition to a physical lock, multiple layers of barriers had been set over it.

And standing on either side of the door were two men.

““Thank you for your hard work, sir.””

“You two, leave.”

““Understood.””

The two men bowed once, then left their posts and headed back up the stairs. Those two were B-rank adventurers. If they had been C-ranks, that would have been one thing, but using B-ranks to guard a mere room was excessive to the extreme.

“I knew it was a place only you and Phil could enter, Brother. But I never knew what was inside or what it was for.”

I was from Incarnation of the Sun too, so I had known this room existed.

However, the only ones allowed inside were Kyros, the Guildmaster, and Phil, the guild’s number one A-rank healer.

Even I had not been allowed in. I had never even been told why this room existed.

“This is why I believed your words so quickly.”

With that, Kyros unlocked the many layers of locks.

The room inside was dimly lit.

There was only a bed and a chair.

Beyond that, there was only a curtain hanging there as though to conceal something.

And on the bed behind it lay a woman.

This place had been guarded so heavily. She must have been someone extremely important.

Thinking that, I slowly leaned in to look at her face.

“…What?”

The moment I saw the woman’s face, my mind fell into chaos.

Stunned, dumbfounded, shaken to the core. There were no words that could describe it.

“S-Sister?”

Yes, the one lying there was Lishia, who was supposed to have died.

“…………”

“What is going on, Brother?”

I pressed the silent Kyros for an answer.

“Why is Sister here?!”

It was impossible. It should never have been possible.

Eight years ago, Lishia had died after transferring her skill. That was what Noir and the military police had told us.

“Sister was supposed to be dead…”

“No, she had not died.”

“Then Sister was alive―”

“If I had to describe it in a single phrase, she was in a suspended death-like state. She had no consciousness. That is why I had Phil come regularly to care for her.”

Let us say, for the sake of argument, that Lishia had not died for those eight years, but had instead remained in a suspended death-like state.

If she had no consciousness, there should have been no way to sustain her life.

And yet an A-rank healer could make even that possible. Thinking of it that way, it made sense why Phil alone had been allowed into this room.

“It was by chance that I found Lishia. Six years ago, I heard a rumor that there was an unidentified sleeping princess in a hospital. Apparently, she had already been unconscious for two full years, and the hospital did not know what to do with her anymore.”

“A sleeping princess?”

“It truly was a coincidence. At the hospital, I found Lishia, terribly emaciated. She had been in that suspended state for two years. There was only so much the hospital could do for her. So I took her in.”

“Wait… wait a second!”

I cut Kyros off.

The flood of information pouring into me all at once was more than my mind could process.

“You said you found Sister six years ago, right?”

“Yes. I have been caring for her ever since.”

Six years ago. That was around the time Kyros had suddenly announced that he was going to found a guild.

From that day on, Kyros and I had stopped being brothers and had instead become Guildmaster and Advisor.

I had felt that something was off. Kyros, who had simply been living as an adventurer, had suddenly declared not only that he would found a guild, but that he would aim for first place.

“Lishia did not die, yet her skill still passed on to us. It may simply have been a failed experiment, but this was the conclusion I reached. Whether it was deliberate or accidental, his experiment had stopped midway. Which left only one answer. The priest… no, Noir, was alive.”

That was right. Kyros had known Noir was alive.

“The reason I was able to subdue Noir eight years ago was because he deliberately held back. As I gained more experience as an adventurer, I came to understand that very well. I also learned that there were things I could never handle alone.”

That was why Kyros had been so obsessed with strength.

Why he had been so obsessed with guild rankings.

In other words, Incarnation of the Sun had been a guild created for the sole purpose of defeating Noir.

“If we capture Noir, we may be able to restore Lishia’s consciousness.”

“…Why didn’t you tell me?”

“And what would telling you have changed? Nothing. You would only have rushed ahead and failed.”

“That’s…”

I tried to answer back, but the words caught in my throat.

Kyros was right.

Back when I had still been in Incarnation of the Sun, I had been powerless.

All I could do was discover talent and guide others according to it.

Even though I myself had possessed no real power, I had arrogantly thought, Without me, all of you would have remained buried and unnoticed. I had been a powerless, ignorant, arrogant child.

And though he spoke coldly, perhaps Kyros had truly been trying to keep me out of it.

Lishia’s suspended death-like state was clearly an irregularity.

Ordinarily, someone should have died after having their skill stolen, yet she had not.

If that was the case, there was every chance Noir would appear once he realized it. And when that happened, Kyros, as the man leading the top-ranked guild, would immediately attract attention. But what about me, the one who had remained in the background?

“Could it be… that you expelled me so I would not get dragged into this…?”

I asked as though clinging to hope.

Things between us had been at their worst back then, but that did not mean the time we had spent together as family had never existed.

The expulsion had only been for show, and in truth Kyros had done it to protect me――

“No. You looked like you might stage a coup, and that irritated me. If things kept going like that, my position would have been in danger.”

“Ah… right.”

He answered so bluntly that my shoulders slumped at once.

I was an idiot for expecting anything.

“Anyway, look at this.”

Kyros pulled open the curtain.

Behind it were countless handwritten notes.

And in the center was a detailed portrait of Noir.

“This is…”

The amount of information was overwhelming.

This was not the sort of volume someone could have gathered in only a year or two.

There was information on Noir, of course, but also on everyone connected to him, his victims, and everything else tied to the case.

“How did you gather all of this…?”

“I gathered it all myself. There was no way I could speak of Noir even to those in the underworld operations.”

“What…! Then does that mean the reason you kept slacking off at work was…?”

Kyros had fulfilled his duties as Guildmaster, but beyond that, he had done almost no other work to speak of.

He had probably interacted with the guild members very little as well.

He had left the practical work to the executives and become the sort of decorative Guildmaster who did nothing but give orders. There were more than a few people who called him exactly that.

To be honest, I had assumed Kyros simply neglected his work and spent his free time fooling around.

But in reality, he had been gathering information on Noir.

And he had done it all with his own two feet.

“That does not matter. What matters now is what we do from here.”

“So this means you will help me, right?”

“Obviously. I will mobilize the full strength of Incarnation of the Sun. I’ll dispatch them to the Adventurer’s Association and have them assist with the administrative work as well.”

“What!? Then what about the dungeon conquest…?”

“That does not matter either. I gathered those people from the beginning for the purpose of hunting down Noir.”

The Kyros with those greedy eyes was nowhere to be seen.

All that remained was the killing intent of a man determined to finish Noir.

“I’m going to the Adventurer’s Association too. We’ll discuss the details there.”

†

Once Lloyd left and I was alone again, I, Kyros, let out a heavy sigh.

“Haa…”

All sorts of emotions churned within me.

Joy, melancholy, regret… I could no longer even tell what these feelings were.

“Was this really the right way to do it…?”

I asked myself that question.

I was not carefree enough to think that everything I had done until now had been right.

Even so, I had believed I was staying true to my convictions.

To capture Noir, who had gone on living as if nothing had happened, and kill him. For that sake, I had used every means available to me. There had been many times when I had dirtied my own hands as well.

And as though rebuking myself for all of it, I kept asking the same question over and over.

“Was this really the right way to―”

“It has been a long time… Lord Kyros.”

A familiar woman’s voice rang out, cutting off my murmur.

When I raised my gaze, I saw a woman dressed as a maid standing there.

She was one of the people from the underworld operations whom I had relied on many times before. Wraith.

“W-Wraith!? You were alive!?”

I asked, unable to hide my shock.

Had it not been more than half a year since she last showed her face? Wraith had suddenly vanished without a word, so I had assumed she was dead.

Then she smiled and said,

“I abandoned that name. Now I serve Lord Lloyd as Rei, sworn to his cause.”

“I-Is that so… Then that is good…”

Wraith… no, Rei had originally been someone Lloyd discovered.

Lloyd would be able to bring out her abilities to their fullest.

And for her as well, she was surely happier under Lloyd than wasting away in Incarnation of the Sun.

“Why did you suddenly appear? Did you come to take revenge?”

A self-mocking smile rose to my lips.

Until now, I had lied and claimed that I was the one who discovered Rei, and I had used her for my own ends. If she had spoken directly with Lloyd, then she probably already knew the truth.

It would not have been strange if she hated me for it.

“No. I merely came to encourage you.”

Rei answered without hesitation. There was no anger or hatred in her face.

That only left me more bewildered.

“Why? I deceived you, didn’t I?”

“And all of that was for Lord Lloyd’s sake… wasn’t it?”

“――!?”

“I had someone investigated Lord Kyros.”

I involuntarily caught my breath.

Rei spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact voice.

“Lord Kyros knew from the beginning that Noir was still alive. That was why you created Incarnation of the Sun, wasn’t it? To draw Noir’s attention.”

“T-That is just your delusion…”

“Incarnation of the Sun steadily rose to become the number one guild. But you could not allow Lord Lloyd to be put in danger. So you removed him from his executive position. Although… it seems there were some selfish motives mixed in as well.”

She wore the expression of someone saying, I know everything.

I thought of denying it, but there was no point when she already knew this much.

“Ahahaha… that’s right. In the end, though, I saw nothing at all. I told myself I was trying to save my sister, yet I was only hurting my brother. I failed as an older brother.”

I said it bitterly, lowering my eyes.

When I lost Lishia… lost my sister… I made a vow.

I would protect Lloyd no matter what. And I would kill Noir with my own hands and take Lishia back.

That was why I took on the role of the villain. Even if it ruined the relationship between brothers, as long as Lloyd was safe, as long as I could protect my younger brother.

And yet, in the end, I dragged Lloyd into it all.

Originally, I had planned to carry out the plot to kill Noir with only myself and a few of Incarnation of the Sun’s closest retainers.

And then, once it was over, I had dreamed of showing Lloyd a healthy, restored Lishia and reconciling with him.

That was how I kept pushing Lloyd farther and farther away from danger, until before I knew it, I had started to resent him too.

He gathered the trust of the guild members without knowing anything, and even took away the influence I had over them. I envied him for that.

As Rei said, it was also true, in one sense, that I expelled Lloyd for selfish reasons.

“I truly am a man with no right to live. If it had been me who died instead of Lishia―”

“A fierce battle is about to begin. An all-out war against Noir.”

“Huh? What are you suddenly―”

Cutting off my words, Rei stepped closer.

Then, for some reason, she spread both arms wide.

“So for now, at least let me thank you. You did well enduring all of this alone.”

Then Rei’s arms gently wrapped around me.

Nothing about what I had done would change. Nothing would disappear.

It was a burden of sin I would have to carry for the rest of my life.

Even so, for just a moment, I felt as though I had been granted the smallest measure of salvation.

“Uuu… aaahh…!!”

At that moment, for the first time since losing Lishia, I cried out loud and wept.

Interlude – That Day

That day, eight years ago――

Lishia got up early in the morning so as not to wake Lloyd and headed to the church.

“Good morning, Father.”

“Oh my, if it isn’t Lady Lishia. What brings you here so early in the morning?”

The priest smiled warmly and invited Lishia into the room.

“…I came because I wanted to ask about what you told me before.”

Lishia lowered her gaze and spoke in a small voice.

Seeing her like that, the priest widened his eyes, but quickly returned to his usual smile.

“This is hardly the place for such a discussion. Shall we talk in the room farther inside?”

The priest led her into the back room. A soundproof barrier had been set up there. It was not the sort of thing an ordinary church would have.

The moment he closed the door, the priest’s demeanor changed completely.

“Well then, I suppose I can drop this revolting way of speaking now. You came to consult me about the skill transfer, didn’t you?”

The change was so drastic he seemed like a different person altogether. Yet Lishia was not surprised.

She had spoken to the priest in this state before.

Though her face twisted, Lishia slowly nodded.

“…That’s right.”

“I thought so! Humans really are foolish creatures, and that makes them so entertaining to watch! I only brought it up then because I thought there might be a chance, but to think it would go this well!”

The priest let out a warped smile, clearly amused.

On the day of the skill appraisal, the priest had kept only Lishia behind and made her a certain proposal.

In exchange for her own life, would she transfer her skills to one of her siblings?

At the time, she had dismissed the offer as absurd. Setting aside the part about trading her life, she simply could not believe that skills could be transferred in the first place.

Besides, at that time, Lishia had still been cherishing the happiness of her daily life without needing to resort to anything like that.

But after the day of the skill appraisal, the family Lishia belonged to began to fall apart.

Kyros, whose skill had been a dud, could not become an adventurer. And at the same time, with the money he had earned so far, he had begun to worry whether he would be able to keep supporting Lishia and Lloyd as they continued to grow. Kyros had also wanted, somehow, to send both of them to the Academy.

So he had begun the sort of illegal labor that was perfectly ordinary in the slums. Work that eroded a good heart.

Once Kyros, the pillar supporting the family, had begun to break, the family itself had naturally begun to break as well. The family in which smiles had once been taken for granted no longer existed.

“You’re prepared for your life to be the price, aren’t you?”

“…Yes.”

Resolve shone in Lishia’s eyes as she nodded at the priest’s question.

She had come here prepared for exactly that.

And all of it was for the sake of brightening the lives of the two people who were her family.

“Please transfer my 【Advanced Swordsmanship】 to Kyros, and my 【Appraisal】 to Lloyd.”

If Kyros had 【Advanced Swordsmanship】, he would gain strength. It would also become easy for him to earn money in the dungeon. He would no longer have to wear down his spirit with the kind of illegal labor he was doing now.

Lloyd’s skill, 【All-Rounder】, would soon hit the limit of its growth potential. But if someone as clever as Lloyd had 【Appraisal】, he would surely use it well and guide many people.

“That would be difficult. Normally, a skill was transferred from one person to one person.”

The priest, who had seemed enthusiastic until moments before, now spoke as though troubled.

According to him, even possessing two skills to begin with was rare. Separating them and transferring them one by one to different people was something highly irregular.

“If that can’t be done, then I’ll consider this conversation never to have happened.”

Lishia said it without the slightest hesitation.

It would mean nothing if only one of them became happy.

Unless both of them could be happy, she could not offer up her life.

“…Fine. But don’t blame me if it fails, all right?”

Reluctantly, the priest accepted her proposal.

At that, Lishia held out a single sheet of paper in front of him.

“I can’t trust words alone. So please sign this contract.”

“…Hah hah hah, how thorough.”

The faint smile vanished from the priest’s face.

That contract was no ordinary one.

“If you break this agreement, your heart will be pierced. And this will remain in effect even after my death.”

“A contract that powerful must have been rather expensive, don’t you think? How exactly did a slum-dweller like you manage to get your hands on something like that?”

The priest’s eyes moved over Lishia’s body from head to toe, as though tracing it.

The contract Lishia had brought possessed the highest possible level of efficacy.

It was the sort of thing even a person from the slums might not be able to afford after spending their entire fortune.

Without answering the priest’s question, Lishia said,

“Could you tell the other two that I died in the dungeon?”

“Ahahaha! At this point, it makes you people seem stranger than me!”

Without needing any prompting from him, Lishia kept steering the conversation in the most convenient direction for him.

He had never imagined she would offer up her own life of her own accord.

“Nyaa~”

“Hm? What, a cat?”

The sudden meow startled the priest a little. When he glanced over, he saw a stray cat grooming itself in the corner of the room, though it was impossible to tell how it had gotten inside.

The soundproof barrier did not mean the room was completely without gaps. The priest paid it no mind and focused his attention back on Lishia in front of him.

“All right, then. Let’s begin at once.”

The priest promptly formed the contract with Lishia. In that instant, an engraving that could never be broken was carved into the priest’s soul.

After that, the priest curled up the corners of his mouth and held out his hand toward Lishia. The ritual to transfer the skills had begun.

Lishia slowly closed her eyes.

(Please… let a future come where the two of them can smile…)

With that thought, she prayed for the two remaining members of her family.