Chapter 108

Chapter 108

(Cody’s POV)

Having confirmed that Finnegan had regained consciousness, Cody left the room with Harold, while feeling useless and ashamed . He was waiting for the atmosphere to be a little less intense before explaining everything to Finnegan and his wife .

After returning to the living room, he sat down on a chair and let out a long sigh .

Seeing him like this, Harold spoke to him in his usual tone, with no regard for his state of mind .

“Satisfied now?”

“Ah well… To be honest, I wanted get this done without bringing any trouble your way, and yet here we are…”

“You can only blame yourself for being a weakling . ”

“That I am . Sorry… and thank you . Sincerely . ”

Cody bowed deeply . Not only had he ended up making Harold help Finegan, but he had even made him use the sword that drained his life . It was because he knew about this aspect of the sword that Cody wanted to handle the situation with his own hands . He had promised himself that he would not depend on Harold this time .

(In the end, I still left everything to him . I don’t know if I should say I’m shameless or just the worst…)

Cody was not the type to get preachy or says things like ‘I’m the adult here’ . Even so, there was still a reasonable limit to how much he could accept . That was why he had been so adamant on stopping Harold from intervening .

However, when that sword dropped to the ground and Harold picked it back up to save Finnegan himself, Cody had surrendered .

He had surrendered to Harold’s strength and kindness . But more than anything, he had surrendered to his own weakness .

“I don’t want your meaningless gratitude . Well, if you do feel like you owe me, then I guess I’ll just have to work you to the bone from now on . ”

“Hahahaha… Please go easy on me . ”

‘Alright, he wins, I admit defeat’ Thought Cody . This was not a simple question of being physically stronger or weaker .

Harold had probably used words of encouragement because he had guessed that Cody was sincerely beating himself over what had happened this time .

It was almost a wonder who was older than who here .

Harold always had a mature personality since the day Cody first met him, but now that he was a young man, he exuded a kind of special presence and charisma . He was a hero of Vincent’s caliber, or perhaps even greater .

‘Tough break for common sense, this guy’s just something else’Sighed Cody in his mind .

“Well, anyway, we should get some rest . ”

It was already very late at night .

Looking for an inn at this time of the day was not a realistic option . Besides, in the first place, it would be ridiculous to arbitrarily leave the house now given that they had to explain everything to Finnegan and his wife once the sun would rise .

“You took care of everything here so you can have the sofa . I can sleep on this chair or on the floor, I don’t mind . ”

Cody stretched himself and yawned . Rather than saying he felt sleepy, it was more accurate to say he was worn out .

Due to his profession, he was confident in the strength of both his mind and body, but it seemed like the mere act of grabbing that sword had drained him of every bit of his energy . Thinking that this might be what it felt like to have one’s life essence drained, Cody felt shivers down his spine .

And when he thought of Harold, who could casually wield such a weapon with a calm expression on his face, he felt kind of afraid . He did not understand how Harold could do this . ‘If you keep letting it drain your life, the only thing waiting ahead of you will be certain death . Aren’t you scared?’

Of course, even Cody would never say something so insensitive out loud .

“Oh wait, you’re not one of those guys who absolutely can’t sleep on a sofa, right? Well, you do come from noble birth . ”

Though he was the one saying it, it was hard for Cody to believe that Harold was that delicate . He seemed like the type who could fall asleep in the middle of a pitch-black forest while standing up .

‘…Hold on, that’s not it . Why is he being so silent? Is he ignoring me? Man, that hurts . ’ Thinking so, Cody turned towards Harold’s direction, only to find him very intensely staring at a letter . It was unclear where he had gotten it from .

Seeing him in such an unusual state, Cody hesitated to call out to him .

But while he was stuck hesitating, Harold roughly put the letter in his pocket and turned around .

“Something urgent came up . I’m leaving . ”

“You’re leaving now?”

“I’ll let you do the explaining to those two . But don’t say anything unnecessary, you hear me?”

“I guess that’s fine, but don’t you want to say anything to them?”

“…From now on, you’re free to live as you will . Tell them that . ”

The second he said that, Harold immediately rushed out of the house, not giving Cody any time to even try to stop him .

Left in the living room by himself, Cody could only look on in a daze .

He did not know exactly why Harold had left, but he knew he was a busy man; it couldn’t be helped if he had some urgent business to take care of .

Besides, Cody did not mind explaining everything to the couple himself . However, the problem was that there was no one left to receive their gratitude for saving Finnegan .

While he was busy worrying about what he was supposed to do, someone suddenly called out to him from behind the chair he was sitting on .

【”Mister Cody . ”】

【”Oh hey, little Sarah . I’m sorry, I guess I woke you up . ”】

Standing there in her pajamas was Finnegan’s daughter, Sarah .

It seemed like Cody had been making a little too much noise . He wondered if he should explain the situation to her right away seeing as she was already awake, but Sarah started speaking before he could say anything to her .

【”You’ve done well . However, you have another role to play now . ”】

【”…Sarah?”】

Something was odd . It was not just her way of speaking, nor was it her gaze that was locked right on him yet felt like it was peering into an empty void .

Something was amiss . It was like a fundamental part of her was out of place .

However, Cody did not know what it was . No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t think of any answer, it was as if his brain was refusing to think .

Sarah slowly walked closer to him, one step at a time . Her behavior was obviously not normal, but as she stared through him with her sky blue eyes, Cody found himself unable to move .

(Sky-blue…? No, the color of her eyes is supposed to be…)

Before Cody could fully remember, something blocked his vision . The small palms of Sarah’s hands covered his eyes .

He could tell from the soft touch of her hands on his forehead that his eyes were being covered . Even so, his body remained petrified .

【”What are you doing to…”】

Before he could finish his question, everything in his field of vision turned black .

【”You’ll make for another fine trial for him . ”】

The voice that reached his ears right before he lost consciousness was fuzzy . It was stuck somewhere between Sarah’s regular voice and the voice of an adult man .

◇

Chapter 108 (part 2)

(Harold’s POV)

Harold was running out of breath . This was proof that he was running with all his power .

Even so, he kept going without any breaks .

The sun was already high in the sky . Harold was cynically thinking that this clear blue sky was here to make fun of him for going through one unexpected predicament after another, with nothing ever going smoothly for him .

He could not help his thoughts from going to such a negative place given the emergency of the situation he was being faced with .

(Why the hell did they already step into Harrison’s mansion?!)

There certainly was supposed to be an event where Liner fought in Harrison’s mansion in order to get back his sword . But through Elu and Frieri, Harold knew how things had been progressing on Liner’s side, and he knew there were supposed to be 2 or 3 more events before this one . But these events had been skipped to make way for this sudden progress of the story .

Back when he read the emergency contact letter that had been suddenly delivered to Finnegan’s house, Harold had been stuck in disbelief .

Harold hadn’t told Elu about the original story in detail as he thought it would seem odd and would raise questions . All he had told him was basically to just tail and observe Liner and the others without being noticed, and to contact him him if they did anything that stood out . He had also told him about a few key events, pretending they were predictions of the future . When any of those events took place, Elu had to notify Harold immediately and in priority over anything else .

That was why Elu had sent an emergency contact letter to notify him, but that’s all it was, a notification . The content of the letter was not sufficient for Harold to make a guess as to how the situation had progressed so fast . The easiest way for him to know would be to hear it directly from Elu, but Harold unfortunately did not have time for even that .

【”This should be it…!”】

After running faster than a horse for hours without stopping for a second, the building he was looking for finally came in sight .

He was currently at one of the medium sized towns scattered around the royal capital . In the middle of that town, there was a mansion the size of a small castle . If the event was progressing like it did in the original work, then the fight was supposed to start around the terrace on the top floor of this mansion .

That being the case, Harold kicked the brick wall of a house to climb on top of it, and then ran from roof to roof at full speed, straight to Harrison’s mansion . There was quite a distance between some of the houses because of the roads that separated them here and there, but jumping over that much space was nothing for Harold .

Though he was probably being an annoyance to the people who lived in the town, he still maintained his maximum speed as he came closer to the mansion .

In reality, Harold should have had the time to sneak into the mansion at his own pace .

He had come up with a theory when he was staying in Vincent’s hospital room . He thought that if his theory was correct, then there was a chance he’d be able to bring back Ventos and Lilum’s ego, and their emotions with it . It was then that Cody proposed to him to go treat a man who had what seemed to be almost the same symptoms as the two siblings .

Harold had figured that if this went well, then he might be able to save Ventos and Lilium . At the time, he believed that he still had some time on his hands despite the progress of the events on Liner’s side . That was why he had granted Cody’s request .

And the result ended up being a great success . Thanks to this, the likelihood of him being able to save the siblings had increased . But just when he had been having those positive thoughts, life had thrown this unexpected situation his way .

【”Shit!”】

Harold reflexively tossed out an insult .

If the information written on the letter was true, then the fight in the mansion had probably already started by now . Harold did not believe for a second that Liner and the others would be defeated, but Ventos and Lilium were another story .

In the game, after being defeated in combat, the siblings had turned against Harrison, but nothing was said about what happened to them afterwards . It was believed that they had regained their emotions and ego, but maybe Harrison had killed either one of them from anger after his defeat . In the first place, they might have turned against Harrison simply because they had been ordered to somehow kill him by Justus, and not because they had been freed from his control .

If that was the case, then they would be doomed unless Harold could somehow manage to save them .

(Do I have to be responsible for someone else’s life again…?!)

Thinking back to the past, back when he had first arrived, he had somehow managed to avoid Carla’s death while he was still trying to understand the absurdity of possessing the body of a game’s character . Smiliarily, in the Bertis forest, he couldn’t abandon Sid and the others and he even ended up looking after the Sumeragi family’s private army . Then, not that long ago, he barely managed to somehow capture the brainwashed Vincent while keeping him alive . And though the situation was little bit different, Finnegan might also have died soon if Harold had not intervened .

But every time he had to lift the weight of another’s life like so, he was swarmed by feelings of anxiousness and fear, and just wanted to tell the world “Give me a break already” . However, this world still kept putting the lives of others on his shoulders, one after the other, as if to ridicule him .

Perhaps this just went to show just how much the world hated the existence called “Harold Stokes” .

However, it did not matter if things became difficult, it did not matter if he was the most hated man in the world, and it did not matter if causality and destiny itself tried to enforce the death of ‘Harold Stokes’; his will to survive would not be shaken . He was going to avoid all his death flags to the end, and then tell the world to ‘suck it’ .

But before he could hurl those words at the world, there were some things that had to be done ――!

Cha-ching!

A metallic sound echoed all around . Harold caught the swords of the two young women, blocking the two heavy impacts that did not seem like they could come from their slender arms . He had arrived at an extremely critical time .

【”…Harold-sama?”】

Erica was staring straight at Harold . He had literally jumped up to the top of a four-story building to interrupt the fight .

Harold felt like the expression in Erica’s eyes looked completely lifeless, but his priority at the moment was to deal with Lilium . While still holding the blade of Lilium’s scimitar, he pulled her by the arm and struck the pit of her stomach with the handle of his sword .

The blow was violent but did not deal any damage to her . However, because she used too much magic before Harold came here, Lilium collapsed on the spot .

Harold caught her delicate body and placed her on one of the benches that had not been covered in ice .

Next, he smiliarily thrust his sword at Ventos, who immediately lost consciousness like his sister . Harold then destroyed the ice restraining him and carried him to another bench .

Harold was relieved, at least he still had a chance to save the siblings .

Through the whole process, the only person who said anything Harrison, who was wailing pitifully while kneeling on all fours . He was unable to stand because his feet were encased in ice . As for Liner and the others, they only stared bewilderedly at the scene that was happening in front of them . For now, Harrison was being too noisy, so Harold broke his ice restraints and dug his fist in his abdomen to force him into silence .

Then, he finally turned towards Liner and the others .

Harold could not tell what kind of emotions were in their eyes as they gazed at him . Were they simply surprised? Or were they confused by his sudden intrusion? Either way, the words Harold would say next were going to be very important . If he handled this poorly, his very own survival could be at stake .

Once he firmly established that thought in his mind, Harold decided to speak .

―― No . He had no choice but to speak .

【”If you bastards take a single step from here, believe me when I say I’m going to slice you up . But make no mistake, I’m dying to see you try . ”】

These words were from one of the three battle events that opposed Harold and Liner’s party in the original story .

This was the line Harold had used at the start of their first memorable fight .