After Ariel left, only Eve, I, and Patrasche remained in this spot.
The waves crashed against the rocks with a *splash*, and seawater splashed onto our bodies. The cold sea breeze was neutralized by the flames Patrasche had hung in the air. Not a bad humidity, not a bad view. Not bad—no, a bad conversation partner.
“Do you usually charm women that easily?”
“Charm? An interesting expression. Gender doesn’t matter to someone who comes to rely on me purely.”
“Don’t lie to me like that…”
“Did I not help Zolf because he was a man?”
“…Well, that’s true.”
At my words, Eve shrugged her shoulders.
“You really met that mermaid princess for the first time, right?”
“How many times do I have to say yes? What’s your basis for suspicion?”
“…Under the mutual agreement, if she controls seawater to attack the outskirts of Zefflin, it would be recorded as the current student council president’s disgrace.”
“And what reason would I have to do that?”
“……”
Eve pulled her knees together and hugged them tightly.
After a moment of silence, Eve quietly opened her mouth. But her voice was loud enough not to be drowned out by the sea breeze, and it reached my ears clearly.
“Wolfram.”
“What.”
“…No. It’s nothing.”
“…I see.”
What kind of situation is this?
How am I supposed to resolve this awkward atmosphere?
“Wolfram.”
“Eve.”
“Yes?”
“If you’re going to say ‘no, it’s nothing,’ then I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you call me just now.”
“…Ugh. Fine.”
Eve looked at the sea for a moment, then let out a sigh.
“Alright. You enemy of women. Trash.”
“Suddenly with the insults?”
“It really is the sea. It’s my first time seeing it in my life.”
“Well, it’s rare for an imperial descendant to leave the imperial palace. And if you enrolled in Zefflin, then outside that… even more so.”
“Yes. I know nothing. This sea is my first time too. And this swimsuit as well…”
“Swimsuit? Isn’t that the student council president-issued swimsuit?”
“Yes. You knew about it. I didn’t. That such supplies existed… I really don’t know anything.”
“You’re only three months into your term. How much can you know?”
“Yes. I know nothing.”
“……”
Someone please do something about this atmosphere. Please.
“Alright. What I’m about to say now—consider it a token of gratitude to the upper Bloodline who brought me to the sea for the first time, and a rare moment of weakness from the incomparably excellent lower Bloodline. Listen to it all and let it blow away with the wind. Got it?”
“Long preamble. Get to the point.”
“Fine. Then I’ll ask. Don’t try to dodge the question.”
“Hm.”
“Are you interested in the throne?”
“The throne is already…”
“Don’t play word games. I’m talking about the pinnacle of Lohengrin.”
“……”
I tried to play dumb, but when she presses like this, I have no choice.
“No.”
“Why?”
Why, you ask. Well.
“My dream cannot be realized within the imperial palace.”
“…I see. So Lohengrin is too small for you.”
“Small.”
“Where are you looking? What is your goal?”
Since Eve was speaking to me sincerely, I should answer sincerely as well.
Honestly, when I’m with her, it feels like we’re told to kill each other at the genetic level, but on the flip side, the moment she becomes twisted and depressed, turning into a gloomy Eve, my Zefflin life is also over.
My dream in coming to Zefflin?
Of course I have one.
A huge dream.
The dream Lee Young-jin wanted to have.
“My dream is to become a convenience store owner.”
“I’m being serious here, and you…”
And one step further from that.
“My dream is to have chain stores of that convenience store.”
“…Chain?”
“Branches. Linked together like a chain.”
“I see. An interesting expression. I’m convinced. That’s a big dream.”
“Glad you understand.”
“You’re not my enemy, are you?”
“What if I were?”
“I’d drive a light spear through your belly.”
What a terrifying child.
“I’m joking.”
“Hm.”
Eve stuck her tongue out slightly, patted her knees, stood up, and trotted off somewhere.
—
Eve walked alone along the sea, affirming her own conclusion.
“He’s really thoroughly calculating.”
What Wolfram thinks about is people’s livelihoods.
Making convenience stores into supply points for goods that can be seen everywhere in the world.
Of course, there’s evidence.
【Black King’s Ship】—an iron steed that can travel anywhere in the world. He loads goods onto it.
【Tri-Star】—his fiancée’s family is the world’s strongest steel clan. He receives high-quality steel from there and lays roads for the Black King’s Ship to travel all over the world.
【Convenience Stores】—as a result, convenience stores are placed all over the world, iron steeds run, and he becomes the king of commerce weaving the entire continent together.
The world he envisions is a paradise where humanity is tightly interwoven, with no famine anywhere, and everyone can receive the same products if they wish.
“What a grand dream. For someone with Stamina 2.”
Of course, there’s also evidence for this judgment.
He called his stores “chains.”
A chain made of steel. In other words, isn’t it a declaration of will to bind everything in this world together?
“Well, in the end, it really had nothing to do with me.”
What meaning did my usurpation have to him?
In the end, no meaning at all.
Whether I was in the student council president seat or not, it didn’t matter.
“Whether I usurped or not, you would have walked toward your dream.”
Sometimes. Very rarely, I feel like cheering for that free-spiritedness.
Those steps toward an unknown world.
That conduct that lightly destroys one’s own common sense.
I want to see with my own eyes the ideal at the end of it.
“How fortunate.”
What is fortunate?
That he’s not a villain?
That his dream doesn’t conflict with hers?
Or both?
It didn’t matter either way.
With a small sense of relief and fulfillment, Eve smiled faintly.
The sea breeze felt pleasant.
—
I don’t really get it, but it seems Eve let it slide.
“To be honest, I nearly got into big trouble.”
“Really?”
“You wouldn’t understand, but for an imperial descendant, the weight of the throne is immense.”
I’ve cleared Eve’s route hundreds of times.
In the original, Eve genuinely aims for the throne, and beside her is Kelter of the Royal Knights.
The moment I’m recognized as Eve von Lohengrin’s ‘enemy,’ her personal guard will step forward.
Even if by some chance I make a peace treaty with Eve… if rumors spread that I’m aiming for the ‘throne,’ the other siblings won’t stay still.
“Master, this might be overstepping.”
“Speak. I permit it.”
“Is it truly impossible for you?”
She struck a chord more than I expected.
Is it impossible?
Is it completely impossible?
Well, I don’t know.
To be honest, I’m not sure.
If you clear all the way to Act 12 and wrap yourself in a full set of items from the true ending, you can transcend your stats to some extent. It’s not called ‘reaching the end of the sky’ for nothing.
Eve’s route ending is: ‘Eve and Kelter, as throne candidates and her guardian knight, join forces and walk toward the throne from now on.’ It’s the classic ‘our fight starts now’ ending. Knock down the other siblings, Eve, stand in the sky!
But honestly, there’s no tension. I’m not really worried.
The problem is that my stats in that ending—holding seventy legendary demon swords, wearing the First Emperor’s armor, both with Magic Power 22, firing connection skills—make continental conquest seem like it could be done with one finger, which gives you faith in their future.
But that’s not my ending. It’s the ending Eve has to walk toward.
“I have my own path. I can help to some extent… but I won’t be the one standing in the sky.”
“I see.”
“And to be specific, among the current Lohengrins, Eve is the best candidate to take the imperial power. I have no intention.”
The others all have… some kind of flaw.
“Pfft, hahahahaha!”
“What’s so funny?”
Patrasche burst into laughter.
A laugh so unlike the composed wolf she’d been until now.
“No. Master is indeed a descendant of our old friend, Hark.”
“Out of nowhere.”
“No, I mean. There was a time when I roamed the battlefield alongside Hark von Lohengrin. When the Queen lost to Hark and formed an alliance.”
“…So?”
That wasn’t in the setting book.
I lent an ear to a story I didn’t know.
“At that time. Hark said the same thing. I remember it clearly. A human as pure as to be foolish, overflowing with passion, like light itself. He looked up at the sky and said: 【I don’t need to become Emperor. Right now I’m just representing the human race and acting as the temporary leader of the Middle Realm. If there’s someone more suitable—someone who can save humanity—then that guy becoming Emperor is the best.】”
“……”
He said that?
So Hark von Lohengrin didn’t raise his army to become Emperor?
“It’s a story about how fate can roll anywhere. Hehe. Well, just dismiss it as an old tale from a five-hundred-year-old wolf fairy.”
“I’ll do that.”
An interesting additional setting.
No—it’s the vividness I could only hear because this is reality.
“Ah, found him!”
“Senior! Where did you go off to alone!”
“Wolfram! Do you know how worried Rudika was!”
“Senior Wolfram!”
Because I have comrades behind me who believe in me and follow me.
“Stop running off alone like that! Don’t worry people so much!”
“That’s right!”
“Wolfram, don’t trust your own strength too much.”
“I, I was so worried… hic.”
Everyone came running over making a fuss.
…They are comrades, right?
—
Bombarded by four people’s questions all at once, I just shrugged.
What was I doing? Fishing.
“I was fishing.”
“Fishing?”
“Yes. While all of you were changing into swimsuits, I couldn’t just wait around in front of you. So I set out on a fishing trip ahead.”
“Uh, well. That’s true.”
“That’s true… It would be weird for Senior to be in front while we changed, and he should have gone somewhere out of sight.”
“We should have put the Black Crystal barrier next to Wolfram too.”
“…Rudika agrees.”
And so, I managed to escape the charge of going AWOL alone.
“So, everyone, how about enjoying some fishing? It has quite a refined charm.”
“Wouldn’t it be faster for Rudika to just dive in and hunt?”
“Wouldn’t it be faster for me to just slam the Black Crystal into the sea with a bang?”
“I, I’m scared I might fall into the sea.”
Yeah, figures.
There’s no way these fresh little kids would understand the true appeal of fishing.
As proof, Ayla, Rudika, and Millefeuille tilted their heads.
And…
“Ah-ha. I like fishing too.”
“What?”
Nefty smiled brightly and took my hand.
“In Gluco Village, there’s a valley too. I used to go fishing often with the village kids.”
“Is that so.”
“Yes. So, I’d like to enjoy fishing here with Senior… What will the rest of you do?”
“Fine. I’ll do it too.”
“Ah, then Rudika will do it too.”
“I, I’ll just watch from the side.”
At Nefty’s suggestion, the other three reluctantly nodded.
I handed each of them a fishing rod, baited the hooks, and cast them into the sea.
But the fish weren’t biting as well as expected, so the three tilted their heads and soon began to look thoroughly bored. They’d glance this way and sigh.
“So the swimsuits were pointless after all.”
“She’s not the type to be interested in that. He probably just said ‘if you’re going to the sea, come wearing one,’ right?”
“Hm. Wolfram is that kind of man.”
Hey, don’t say such mean things.
If this uncle, at his age, showed interest in you young ladies’ swimsuits, the police would come for me.
“To be honest… it’s starting to get boring.”
“Me too…”
“Hm. On the way here, Rudika spotted a place with a good view. Shall we go check it out together?”
“Sure. Please lead the way.”
“I, I’ll go too!”
Ayla and Millefeuille decided to walk along the coast under Rudika’s guidance.
“Nefty, aren’t you going?”
“No. Does an angler leave their rod and go somewhere?”
“Good thinking.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
In this place, only two true anglers remained—those who could enjoy even the waiting.
Of course, my fishing rod was being handled by Patrasche, but that’s not important.
I entrusted my five senses to the sea breeze and the sound of the waves, focusing my gaze only on the trembling of the fishing rod.
A junior with whom I could share even this silence joyfully and smile simply—Nefty.
Time like this with Nefty was truly enjoyable.
As we enjoyed the silence for a while, Nefty spoke.
“Senior.”
“Hm.”
“…Do you remember what I mentioned before?”
“What about?”
“That around the time of finals, I would give you my answer with conviction.”
“It was about the Royal Guard.”
Nefty the Knight of Conviction, instead of the conviction to protect her hometown, would decide whether to stay by my side. She said she’d give her answer by the time finals ended.
“Yes, that’s right. Whether I’ll become a guard for Gluco Village, or become your personal Royal Guard.”
“I don’t recall telling you to decide in a hurry. But from what you’re saying now… it seems you’ve decided.”
Nefty took her gaze off the sea and looked at me, and I met her eyes.
“Yes. I’ve made my decision.”
Nefty the Knight of Conviction then put into words that reached my ears clearly.
“I will become your personal knight.”
It wasn’t a small voice. It wasn’t carried away by the sea breeze or drowned out by the waves.
Her conviction and resolve reached my ears with absolute clarity.
