Chapter 15

“That’s, uh, something that happened before I came here-”

“No, it’s none of my business anyway.”

“…Ugh.”

Caesar strode towards me and strongly grabbed my shoulder.

“I didn’t get engaged of my own will, my family decided it.”

“Is…Is that so?”

“I only met her once, it’s not like I have any feelings for her.”

“W-why are you giving me excuses?”

”

”

The heaving chest of the man that was desperately arguing was becoming violent.

My shoulder, that was gripped tightly, felt hot.

“I-if I were to move here…”

Saying so, Caesar shook his head and sighed.

He took his hand off my shoulder and held his forehead.

Eh, what? What did you want to say?

“Lord Louie, you have a reason why you can’t return to the royal capital, right?”

“Eh-…”

Does Caesar know about my situation?

No, it doesn’t seem like Harris has ever told him about it……

However, maybe it’s not so bad that I can’t go back.

He’s fixedly staring into my eyes.

Is he expecting me to say something?

“Uhh…Not at the moment, I’m planning to work here without going back to the royal capital.”

I have no choice but to say that, right?

I don’t really hate working here recently.

The knights are grateful to me and it’s worth doing, in a different way.

……And Caesar is here too.

“…I have a distant relative who’s an alchemist.”

?

“He’s working at the research institute in the royal capital. He’s also someone I highly respect.”

I wonder who it is. If he’s in the research institute, I might know what he looks like.

I didn’t know why Caesar suddenly started talking about this kind of topic, but I continued listening to him for now.

“You should know too, the new theory for the healing drugs.”

”

”

“Eh…!? Ah, of course.”

I know better than anyone else since I was the one who did the research.

There’s nobody other than me who knows this.

“That distant relative of mine is the one who discovered it.”

“Ehh!”

Could it be that the distant relative of his is the chief that plagiarized me…?

What kind of coincidence is this?

“Just half a year ago, I went to the battlefield at the base of the mountain in the east. It happened shortly before you came. ”

“Ahh…I’ve heard from Harith, it was quite a melee…”

“That’s right, the weather was bad and we weren’t able to get a signal as well.”

Half a year ago, this front-line base seemed to have been the most active in the last few years.

There seemed to be a civil war over the succession of the throne in the neighbouring country and one of them had attacked this country to take away our goods.

“Amidst the war, I broke my right knee.”

“T-that can’t be…”

“Well, as you can see, it’s completely healed. However, it’s a broken bone, do you know what it means to have a broken leg on the frontlines? You can’t even run away.”

That should be obvious.

The knights fighting on the battlefield don’t receive enough medical equipment to be in peak condition.

They would have to return to the base at once, but if they don’t have enough physical strength left to do even that, they won’t be able to save other peoples’ lives, much less their own.

When I was doing the research on the healing drugs, my first thought was to ‘make it usable for anybody and make it portable’.

“Could it be…”

“Ahh. Just in time, the new healing drug that was made from the discovered theory had been distributed to the base and I was saved.”

“T-that’s great…”

“I was saved by that theory.”

Hearing that, this is the happiest I’ve ever felt.

What I made had saved someone’s life, I was able to really feel that.

Moreover, that person was Caesar. I felt so happy, as if my whole life so far was affirmed.

But Caesar doesn’t know I made that theory…Not just Caesar, but the public doesn’t either.

I also want everyone to know that I saved Caesar’s life.

However, if I keep working on something that he plagiarized now, the chief would have to atone for his sin.

Won’t it be tough for Caesar as his distant relative…

“……I asked that distant relative of mine.”

“Eh…?”

“He said to turn over the person who tried to steal the thesis for the healing drugs in this base.”

“Huh!?”

It was a bolt from the blue.

Chief! You’re the worst!!

You’re saying you decided to shift the blame to me even though you’re the one who did it?

Without knowing what to say, I opened and closed my mouth, I had no choice but to keep the anger in my chest.

“I…Are you possibly…”

Just as Caesar tried to say something――

“General Caesar!”

“T-Tarta?”

“What? Chief told me to hand in the papers. Even so, it’s unfair to kick me out while you get to speak with Lord Louie.”

“A-ahh, no, I’ll return immediately.”

Eh!? So you’re going back!

“Lord Louie, let’s talk about this later.”

“Eh, s-sure……”

I saw Caesar off in a daze.

Only with this timing would I have a grudge against Tarta.

I can’t help being worried after getting cut off in such a half-baked way.

However.

I clearly understand why Caesar had been so cold to me from the beginning.

A man that tried to steal from the person he admired.

That’s what he labeled me as.

Even if that wasn’t what happened, if I can’t say it then it’ll become the truth.

Chief is the worst guy ever. But if I ever said anything, then that man’s life would probably be over.

He is by no means an incompetent person.

He did many kinds of research that drew my attention.

……If I stayed here obediently, would the chief wake up too, I wondered.

After coming here, I realized that I liked the chief’s talent more than I had expected.

I…The reason I did not speak out when I was demoted, was because I thought it was a waste of his talent.

As a person who loves doing research, knowing what kind of person he was, I just couldn’t come to hate his talent.

…Even so, I wonder if I’m the worst guy ever in Caesar’s perspective.

But it’s too late, I don’t feel like beating a dead horse now.

The lie of me trying to steal, I’d like to clear up that misunderstanding at least…

If I do that, one after another, things would probably start coming to light.

Looking out the window, the weather was still dull today and a sandstorm was blowing violently.

Receiving the anklet, it felt like his heart was close to mine.

In the end, that might just be my imagination too.

I felt like drinking myself to sleep even though I couldn’t drink.