Episode 15

Erika was awed by his look of strong determination. She didnt know what Zens real intentions were when he spoke out those words.

Without any basis and just by her intuition, Erika felt that if she refused his offer, then sooner or later, she would deeply regret it. She was spurred on by an uneasiness similar to a compelling feeling.

Understood. Which way should we proceed in?

This way

To lead her to that place, Zen turned on his heels and with firm footsteps, he stopped in front of a certain room.

Zen chose it as a fitting place for talking about the truth. That was

Here!

Harolds room.

..........Eh?

At the development which was outside her expectations, she involuntarily leaked out a stupid voice. Erika was so confused that she didnt even have the composure to be embarrassed about it.

From the flow of the talk, she thought that he would reveal some kind of circumstances regarding the murder of the servant that Harold was hiding, that is to say, Harolds secret.

What did it mean by doing that it in the room of the person who had wanted to expressly hide it. Maybe, she had fatally misunderstood something in her conversation with Zen.

But where in the world, what kind of misunderstanding was it?- Erikas mind was in complete chaos.

Now now, go on

Eh? Ah, hey........

While she wasnt on guard due to her confusion, Zen pushed Erikas small back and stepped inside the room. He didnt hesitate at all since he had already confirmed that Harold wasnt present.

Zen looked around the room restlessly, and when his eyes fell on the closet, he opened it and pushed Erika, who couldnt keep up with the situation, inside it.

Sorry! Please wait here for some time!

Closing the closet, Zen tried to run out of the room.

Eeh...........?

Once again, a voice which couldnt be though of as hers leaked out from Erika. She was a guest of the owner, and that too when she was a person who had the position of the fiancee, locking her up in this kind of place had already surpassed the level of being disrespectful. If it were some other person, they would even go as far as killing him.

Fortunately, Erika wouldnt choose to express her anger in such a severe manner, but still normally thinking, she couldnt not offer some complaints about this kind of treatment. But this wasnt the time for that. Before anything else, she must give the highest priority to getting out of this room.

From Erikas viewpoint, although it was completely against her will, she was still an intruder. If this was exposed, she didnt know what Harold would spout out.

Thinking of following after Zen, the moment she put her hand on the closet door, cruelly, a gacha sound reached Erikas ears.

Owaa!

Subsequently, Zens surprised shout reached her. With a timing when he was just about to open the door, since the owner of the room returned, it wasnt unreasonable for him to be surprised.

Hearing his shout, Harold frowned.

Dont give out an annoying voice. Or rather, what are you doing in my room?

Uh, umm ........... Actually, I needed to inform you about something, Harold-sama, but even though I knocked on the door, since there was no reply I peeked inside the room

If theres no answer, leave obediently. How much of an idiot are you

Erika peeped through the gap between the blinds furnished inside the closet and observed the situation. She had completely lost the chance to escape.

If she came out here and explained, she could still make some excuse. But what would happen to Zen?

Harold was a person who would kill someone just because he didnt like them. Even though it could be said that Zen reaped what he sowed, she wanted to avoid getting him killed.

But it wasnt known whether Harold would listen to Erikas pleas to spare his life. Judging from his behavior, she thought that the possibility was low.

(What should I do........?)

While Erika was trying to make a decision, the situation was rapidly growing worse.

So, about the thing I wanted to tell!

Zen forcefully returned back to the topic. To that, sighing as though he was exasperated, Harold sat down on the sofa.

And against Erikas expectations, Harold urged Zen to continue speaking.

What is it? Keep it short

Ee, its extremely difficult to say this, but that rumor has spread quite far.......

Zen was being ambiguous with his words by calling it that rumor, but to the people present, it was obvious as to what it was.

Just now, when I had gone to buy goods from the town, in the shop where I stopped by, the shopkeeper and the customers altogether were persistently questioning me

...........

Harold crossed his arms and with his eyes closed, he just kept listening to Zen.

Even Erika, who was inside the closet, didnt understand what he wanted to say, so she listened closely.

Although it hasnt been revealed, and precisely because of that, Harold-samas reputation will fall to the ground, and I feel that itll be bad is we dont take any measures..........

And here I was thinking of what you might say, worthless. Hasnt such a thing already fallen down and completely smeared with mud

But...........

But, What? Do you want to announce that Clara and Colette have run away to the Brosch village and are still living?

No way! Even if I die, I wont speak of that truth

(Eh?)

Listening to their exchange, Erikas mind became completely white.

What did Harold say? The servant and her daughter, Clara and Colette are still alive?

What did Zen say? That is the truth?

The shock she received exceeded last nights acknowledgement of the murder. Erika, whose thoughts and body were frozen over, could do nothing but listen to the 2 of them talking.

Then dont think of meaningless things. If by chance my parents find out that they are still alive, Ill be under suspicion. To thoroughly eliminate that possibility, its already a determined matter

Although I know that, at least how about telling Erika-sama the truth? Due to believing in that rumor, it seems as though shes very depressed

Absolutely not

A clear refusal.

If the temperature of his voice could be measured, without a doubt, it would be below freezing point. Zen and Erikas muscles froze in an instant.

..........Why?

Zen couldnt help but ask.

Why did Harold reject Erika to that extent. That was because, for Harold, in this world of Brave Hearts, in a way he thought that the one he must be the most cautious about was Erika.

The main feature of the character called Erika was kindness. But before that the way of living was included.

In the original work, Harold thought that he was a special existence and he was lump of consciousness that believed himself to be the chosen one by thinking that no matter what was done to other people, it would be allowed. That was why he could unconcernedly kill a servant, discriminate and oppress the powerless populace, and could even make a town into a complete sea of fire as a sacrifice for the monsters just so that he could continue to live.

He had all these atrocious deeds piled up, and yet Erika, even while hating Harold, without giving up, continued to suffer by staying as his fiancee.

The reason for that was because she was felt a sense of obligation since the Stokes family had provided financial aid. Normally thinking about it, due to the connection with the Stokes, their family would get scorned at and there was even the danger of the Stokes pulling their legs, but as expected, that was just to enliven Erikas event, for the convenience of the games scenario.

And so, there was a fear that the kindness due to the setting would stick through with the idiocy and bare its fangs against Harold from here on.

Firstly, as the main premise, Harolds objective was to survive without dying. The things he thought that were necessary for this was avoiding death flags and clearing the original works scenario.

There was no need to explain the former. Then the reason for the latter was, if for example, in the case the last boss wasnt defeated, then almost all the people of the continent including Harold would die.

Although it wasnt confirmed, by guessing from the information inside the game, that possibility was exceedingly high. At any rate, if the rampage of the last boss isnt stopped, then the only continent in the world would sink- was how it went.

In other words, even if he avoided the death flags, if the last boss wasnt defeated because of deviating too much from the original work, there would be no meaning in it.

There was a need for the protagonists to clear the scenario by any means possible, and inside the protagonist party, Erika held an important position of being the healer. With her presence or absence, the quests difficulty level would change. Since their survival rate would be greatly influenced, even for Harolds sake, it was absolutely necessary for Erika to become friends with the protagonist and if that didnt happen it would be troubling.

Moreover, he had a faint hope that if the scenario was cleared like the original work, he might be able to return to his original world. Or rather, he couldnt think of anything other than that with regards to returning back to the original world.

Returning back to the topic, what would happen if Erika, who couldnt abandon Harold until the last moment, learnt common sense and general conscience, and on top of that saw Harold extending a hand to the Sumeragi when they were in a predicament.

It was a hypothesis he didnt want to imagine. She might actively push for the engagement. Well, that would still be fine.

But if because of that, she didnt join with the protagonist, what would happen. That was the situation that Harold was afraid of.

That was why, other than not walking the evil path for avoiding death flags, Harold judged that the the risks would be lower if he got hated by Erika thoroughly in everything other than that part. It would even be fine to declare- Let her affection points eat shit.

How easy it would be if he could explain it like that, but the drawback would be that they would suspect the condition of his head. He decided to just make up some appropriate reason and stop Zens questioning.

Breaking the long silence, Harold started talking.

.........She was crying

Eh?

I dont know if it was because of the truth that I killed a person, or if it was for the mother and daughter who were killed. But no matter for what, her heart was pained for some stranger and she shed tears. Shes nothing but an idiot

He recalled last nights memories. Illuminated by the moonlight, there was single line of tear firmly traced on Erikas cheek.

Though she was caring to the extent which couldnt be helped, that was certainly Erikas virtue.

And simultaneously, she is too kind. That too, a kindness which only sympathizes with the other person, a weak persons kindness. If such a person tries to walk with me, shell bear an innumerable amount of wounds

Thats why, youre purposely distancing yourself from her? Thinking for Erika-samas sake.........

Dont spout nonsense. Why would I need to think for her sake. Im just saying that cancelling the marriage to a troublesome girl, who cries for each and every little thing, is what even I wish for

Harolds words pierced Erikas heart very deeply. It was very sharp, but it was a completely different pain compared to last nights.

Pangs of conscience, self-hate, regret.

Negative emotions came out successively and tried to swallow Erika. The wave of emotions and Harolds words didnt stop.

Such..........Eh, Harold-sama has no intention of marrying Erika-sama?

Theres no way Ill have any

Then why did talks of engagement........

To put it simply so that even your brain can understand, this is an engagement bought by money

The Stokes family, who wanted their lineage, took advantage of the Sumeragi, whose revenue was in a considerably unfavorable condition since the proceeds from forestry, which was the linchpin of their economy, became low because of the unnatural outbreak of miasma in the forest.

Since the unnatural outbreak of miasma was a calamity which had no precedents in the whole continent, it wasnt known whether the Sumeragi would be able to recover, and also repay the money they had borrowed. Among the royalty and other nobles who were hesitating whether or not to provide large-scale financial aid due to these various reasons, the engagement was the result of the Stokes family going to sell a favor without even thinking about the consequences.

After coming to know the motives and circumstances of both the families, Zen noticed a certain thing.

Then, for the Sumeragi, wont cancelling the engagement be fatal?

Certainly, as Zen said, if the Sumeragi lost the financial aid by Harold unilaterally cancelling the engagement, then in the near future, the Sumeragi territory wouldnt be able to maintain itself. Well, even if Harold threw a tantrum, there was no way that his parents who were obsessed with lineage would allow to cancel the engagement.

But Harold had no intentions of trifling with that.

Ive already made a move. The medicine and LP farming are for the sake of that

In the regions where pollution due to the miasma was weak, by using that medicine they would be able to lumber wood like always. Until the protagonist disperses the accumulated miasma, it would gradually extend its range, but putting it in another way, it shouldnt extend more than it had done in the game.

Even in the letter to Tasuku, he had dug up the games map from his memories and had informed him about the expected maximum range of pollution. If they could predict the maximum range of damage beforehand, even the Sumeragi could pull back their defense line.

Adding onto that, he also had the intention of offering the know-how of LP farming. Although, since the outlook still hadnt been good, in the letter he had stopped by writing some dubious statement like- Im even considering offering some knowledge about industrial techniques.

Receiving the explanation which left out the parts of the information about the game, Zen expressed as though he was dumbfounded.

You have even thought about such things.......

This was the first time he had heard about the medicine and the letter, and knowing that there was such an intention hidden behind LP farming, Zen could do nothing other than be wonder-struck. How far into the future was this boy gazing at.

And Zen wasnt the only one to be surprised. Even Erika, who was holding her breath, was shocked by Harolds foresight and depth of thinking.

Harold had sensed the danger towards the Sumeragi in advance. That too, before the talks of engagement had come out, immediately after the outbreak of miasma. If thought of it like that, then she could understand how he was able to gather the information about the ingredients required to make the medicine even without a few days passing by after the engagement was decided.

In other words, this meant that Harold had tried all possible means for the sake of saving the Sumeragi who should have been completely unrelated to him. Although he was insisting that he had done it for selling a favor, if the money, time and effort spent until the medicine was created, was put on scales, then the merit of saving the Sumeragi would be too less. All the more when considering Harold, who seemed to be for the pure blood principle from the way he talked.

Thinking about that dedication and his thoughts, Erikas vision blurred.

Honestly, even Harold had made this decision only after thinking over it for a long time.

It was clear that if Erika knew he was giving them this much support, then her sense of obligation would be much more than that in the original work. Then the reason why he took actions which werent in the game was because he wanted a patron.

In the place where the Stokes couples eyes could reach, he wouldnt be able to move freely and he would also be unable to have his way with gathering people who could act for him.

And there, he thought of making contact with the Sumeragi with the cover of a fiance. He had thought that he could trust Tasuku, since he knew Tasukus personality from the game. He had compassion, was understanding and also had personal connections, and if Kazuki could gain his cooperation, it would become easy to support the protagonists from the shadows.

By offering the medicine, industrial cooling down could be delayed, LP farming could bolster the economy and if the protagonist took care of the miasma accumulation event, even forestry could be restored. If that happened, even without the financial aid of the Stokes, the problem of managing their territory would disappear, and if Erikas engagement was cancelled, they wouldnt receive a serious blow. Moreover, regarding the cancellation, Harold himself had informed in that letter that it would be fine to do it.

(Exactly like a debt parade on the scale of Kazoe Yakuman*. Although that salesmanship feeling of pressure isnt half-assed, as long as I dont have any unreasonable requests, Tasuku should cooperate in most of the things)

(TL *A term in Rchi(Japanese) Mahjong about which I have no idea of. I think it means the person who has that gets a high amount of points, maybe. You can look it up . If anybody has a thorough understanding of it, please explain in the comments)

That wasnt confidence but conviction.

However, he had a single concern. That concern which might be classified as an unreasonable request was connected to Zen who was in front of him, so he unintentionally warned him.

Right, after that think about your future also

What do you mean by that?

Harold who had adjusted his voice so that it couldnt be heard from outside, reduced it even more. It was to the level that Erika, hidden in the closet, was barely able to catch it.

Ive told it before, but in the near future, there is a danger that the Stokes family will fall. If you dont want to become jobless, itll be prudent for you to be prepared just in case

But arent you spreading LP farming to prevent that?

If nothing is done about the current taxation and wasting of money, itll just be to the degree of an extension. Even Ill think of something, but it might not succeed. I have no intention of helping you bastards, so do something by yourself

Even the always happy-go-lucky Zen lost his composure at this.

Harold who was talking about it as though it was natural, was the one who was weird.

If that happens, what will happen to the people of the Stokes territory?

Who knows. But if it is Tasuku Sumeragi, he wont do anything bad to them

He spoke in a slovenly manner. But a name which Erika couldnt let slide rose up.

(Why is fathers name being used here..........?)

Err.........What do you mean?

In the letter, I have appealed to the Sumeragi side to not deal with the populace unjustly when the Stokes family falls. Really, I cant help but laugh at their weakness since they wouldnt survive if something like this isnt done

Even if he told appeal, it didnt mean that he asked for the Sumeragi to provide for them. If it were the Sumeragi who were close to the royalty, the people could expect some influence and support from them.

It could also be said that since Kazuki didnt know whether Tasuku would accept this request, he sold an excessive amount of favors.

(Most probably, itll become the territory of another noble, and I pray that a person more decent than the one now comes)

Although, by that time, he wouldnt be there in this land. He was completely ready to throw away