I helped April pull herself together.
While doing so, I slowly noticed. I knew she was out of her mind now, but I had to persuade her right away.
“If Fabian knew you weren’t dead… Eventually, he would kill you again to keep your mouth shut. You can’t go to your hometown like this.”
“Then what should I do?”
April hung on to me and asked. Her shaky eyes didn’t faint. I held April’s trembling hands tightly and made eye contact with her.
“I’m sorry to reverse my words, but… It seems safest for you to be in the Black Knights.”
“…”
“Because the only way to not die to Fabian is to eventually become stronger than him.”
I tried to speak as if I were as selfless as possible. But it wasn’t wrong. As I said, the only way she was safe was to become a Black Knight.
There was a shadow on April’s face.
Meyer, who was still listening to the story, suddenly intervened.
“After all, killing Fabian would be cleaner in many ways.”
April is not in a good condition. What’s wrong with him? I glanced at Meyer.
Meyer shrugged and said nothing. He didn’t do it unknowingly, and his attitude was clearly intentional.
Maybe it was because of what we had said earlier about being willing to kill Fabian if April agreed. That seemed to be the only reason I could think of.
“…Please don’t kill Fabian.”
April got up and firmly grabbed the hem of her dirt-stained skirt.
Her hands were stained with blood. April smiled bitterly and muttered, wiping the blood dried up on her hand on the skirt.
“Although I can’t forgive him for doing this… Still, I want to believe that he’s just off now and that this is not what Fabian Ignis really looks like.”
“Just because you want to believe him doesn’t cover the truth.”
“Commander.”
I stopped the sarcastic Meyer. As April was also Fabian’s colleague, there was no warmth in Meyer’s attitude toward her.
But Meyer’s words were not wrong. I asked April once again in a calm voice.
“… Do you want to save Fabian even if you live in hiding for the rest of your life because of him?”
“Yes.”
“Fabian will do the exact same thing in the future. Maybe even get in the way of our path. Do we still have to save him?”
When asked again, April blankly lowered her hand.
She rubbed it several times, but there was still a bloodstain on her hand. April said quietly.
“If he is kept alive and still remains the same at all… If all of his true appearances I believed were pretenses, then…”
“…”
“I’ll kill Fabian then.”
April raised her head resolutely.
Of course, it was close to impossible for her as a healer to kill Fabian.
But that wasn’t the point. Determination to kill Fabian.
It was meaningful just to get the resolution from her.
April added with an awkward smile.
“I know it’s shameless of me to do this even though you saved me… Regardless of this or that, I have a debt in my heart to Fabian. Although Fabian tried to kill me, before that, I broke my oath with him first. If I save Fabian now… I’ll be able to shake off all that debt.”
I remembered the conversation script Fabian had with Deca and April as they left their hometown.
It was a story in the game for me, but it would have been a memory and hope embedded in April like a nail…
I nodded my head.
“If April’s determination is so… But you can’t live as April Pius in the future.”
She had to wash her identity completely because we didn’t know what Fabian would do if he knew. April nodded with a face that accepted everything.
“I’m determined. I… If you accept me, I’ll do my best in the Black Knights.”
This drew April into the Black Knights as well. It was a painful accomplishment that reminded me of the first round.
Since they belonged to the Black Knights, there were as many outstanding talents as radishes scattered across the field, but I really had to work hard to hold them in my arms in the first round.
Mainly because I listened to their wishes and in the process of resolving them they came to trust the Fabian Expedition…
Still, it was a good thing that Fabian, the game’s protagonist, had so many fateful encounters with human resources; it would have been more difficult if they had never met in the first place.
Of course, it was a story that had nothing to do with me today. I encouraged April.
“Good thinking, April. Jeanne will be able to adapt much more steadily with you around her.”
April, who is now able to move, rose slowly. I helped her in no time.
April, who stumbled, looked at me and said.
“But… For me, the object of my allegiance is not the Black Knight.”
When I said I didn’t understand what April was saying, she knelt down in front of me again.
I rushed to stop her, but April held her ground.
“Jun.”
She looked up at me and said.
“You were the only one who tried to save me, and you were the only one who didn’t give up on me.”
Her quiet voice rang in the vacant lot.
Unlike me, who didn’t know what to do, April didn’t back down as if she had firmly decided.
“Jun, you give me a new name. You’ll be my new hero.”
“But.”
“I know you’re having a hard time. However, for me…”
April shook her head stubbornly.
To swear loyalty to the vice commander over the commander, there is even a degree of ignoring Meyer.
If Meyer took it a little crooked, it was not unreasonable to regard it as a will to rebel.
Meyer doesn’t like April…As there are many things to do with her in the future, it was difficult when she was out of Meyer’s eyes.
I was in a hurry to catch on to Meyer’s mind. Meyer opened his mouth slowly.
“Commander, vice commander, it’s all just a title.”
However, Meyer was less interested than I had expected.
I wondered if it was because of his overwhelming confidence in my abilities, or if he trusted me that much.
He looked at me and tapped his chin toward April as if he didn’t feel the slightest threat to his position in all this.
“It’s the person you saved. So you’re right to take responsibility, Jun.”
“… Okay.”
I nodded. Finally, a smile of relief spread across April’s face.
I took April back to my quarters, and the first thing I did was to look for someone in secret.
An ordinary woman of April’s age and build.
It wasn’t long before August brought a woman who met the conditions I wanted. She was a village wife living on the edge of the capital.
And I cast transformation magic on April. The village wife was surprised by the magic she saw for the first time.
“This is possible with magic!”
“We have to keep this a secret. If you spill this fact, the Black Knights will not forgive you.”
I threatened her. The lady turned pale and jumped up.
“Oh, don’t worry. The money you gave me is too abundant for my work, so I know. I’ll try not to wander around and live calmly in the village as much as I can.”
“Good.”
I nodded in satisfaction.
Meyer would have managed to keep her mouth shut without my saying anything anyway, but I needed to show April that we were willing to invest to this extent.
April, who had thus acquired a new face, groped at her own face, fumbling around.
“It’ll be hard to adapt for a while, but hang in there. You don’t want anyone to find out about you.”
“I’m fine. However… Is the Vice Commander’s mental and magical strength okay? We can’t keep the transformation magic forever.”
“This much is fine.”
I answered back lightly. My level had risen considerably, so this magic power had not been too much.
Others seem to have a lot to pay attention to when using magic, but I didn’t care much because I just had to start it.
April laughed awkwardly as if I were joking, and her face paled as soon as she realized it was true. It was as if she was looking at something that was not human.
On the other hand, Meyer and August were nonchalant, as if they were used to it. Meyer said as if it were obvious.
“She’s the Vice Commander of the Black Knights. She’s not a person to judge with clueless common sense.”
“… Why are you so proud, Commander?”
“Because I was admiring my eye for choosing you.”
I shook my head at Meyer’s threadless joke.
April stared blankly at Meyer and me. I glanced at April and smiled.
“Why? Didn’t you know that the Commander and Vice Commander of the Black Knights would be joking around?”
“I’m not joking.”
“…Honestly, yes. I think it’s a much more finite atmosphere than I thought.”
April nodded her head gently. Still looking puzzled, I approached her with a small smile.
“There are differences from other expeditions, and there are similarities… You’ll have to get used to it.”
Her expedition would now be here, the Black Knights.
“April Pius is dead. You are now… Anasta. You will become Anasta.”
I put my hand on April’s shoulder, now Anasta.
Thus, Fabian lost his left arm, and the Black Knights gained a new talent.
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