Overlimit Skill Holder
Book 2: Chapter 52.4

True Malice Is Found In Kindness

Using【Hearing Enhancement】, my ears picked up the noise outside clearly. Quite a large number of them… maybe even a hundred of them. That many people seemed to be gathered at the gate of the residence. Right now, the knights, who are under Captain Maxim, are keeping them at bay, but if things get out of hand, the knights will soon be defeated.

It was completely unexpected that Lord Ethan’s house, House Ebene, was so hostile towards black hair and black eyes. The conclusion for today’s discussion was supposed to be that the Earl wouldn’t submit and the young lady would be disappointed, but in the end both of them would still reach a compromise because they’re the only family they have got – that was the kind of optimistic ending I had in mind.

However, the Earl has already begun to move toward that point. No, it was because of me that the situation moved towards that point. How did they replace out? The words and actions of the mediator at that time, huh…

「Father! Isn’t that too cruel!? You were saved by Reiji! Even yesterday, if it wasn’t for Reiji, many people would have…!」

「It’s alright, my lady.」

「But still!」

「I am happy that you got angry for my sake.」

When I said so from the bottom of my heart, the young lady looked at me sadly.

(Simply that alone, makes me truly happy.)

I have a friend. A friend whom I can trust from the bottom of my heart.

Earl… You have never known what that feels like, do you?

「Reiji-san, you seem quite lax.」

「Yeah. As I told you earlier, I have no relation to this Earl House anymore.」

「… In other words, you wish to leave right now? Duke Ebene’s skilled troops are waiting for you outside, you know.」

The Earl raised his eyebrows. Maybe he thought I was overestimating my abilities.

Well, I never showed my true strength in front of the Earl, after all.

「Earl. There were two pieces of information I wanted to know… but you couldn’t provide them. There was the 8-star skill, but that wasn’t what I wanted.」

「What do you wish to say?」

「Those two pieces of information are what’s most important to me. I don’t need to stay here and be protected by the glory of the Earl House, nor get a disproportionately high salary.」

「!」

「You are very smart and can read ahead like a prophet, but you misread one thing. I didn’t place much value on my future in this country. If there is another place I can leave freely, I’ll just move to that country. 」

「…So you don’t have any attachments?」

「No, there is. But only one – the young lady.」

I went around the sofa and stood right next to the young lady.

「My lady. Would you like to go with me? The world is vast – so vast, even a lifetime isn’t enough to see it all.」

The young lady’s eyes widened.

She looked at my reached out hand, and then looked at my face.

The Earl — didn’t say anything. Rather, it was the chief butler and Captain Maxim who looked flustered.

Is the young lady not important to the Earl? — No. The Earl is a doting parent who would protect his daughter even if it destroys him. So, why doesn’t he stop me?

「…I will go.」

When the young lady took my hand and stood up, the Earl’s expressionless look crumbled.

「W-What…?!」

The Earl was convinced that the young lady wouldn’t take my hand. But since he was wrong, he was utterly shocked.

「Earl. Today we went to church while you were away.」

「…W-What are you saying…?」

「I canceled the contract magic between you and the young lady.」

「!?」

The Earl’s handsome face grimaced deeply. The chief butler and Captain Maxim looked confused.

「…Judging by that expression, it seems that you were the only one who knew about that.」

Today was the first time I suspected that the young lady might have been bound by contract magic. That’s because when she heard the information from me and started to suspect the Earl, she looked unnaturally sick.

The young lady might have been contracted to prevent her from betraying her father – thinking that, I brought the young lady to the church.

That was the first time when the know-how I learned from Non-san about contract magic came into use.

At the church, if you pay money, you can perform a ritual to cleanse sins and impurities. You have to get naked and bathe in holy water, but the bathing procedure seems to be very similar to the process of dissolving a particular contract magic. When you do so, it seems that there are many contract magics that can be dissolved if high mana is circulated in the body – although Non-san did say that only a limited number of church officials know that.

The young lady had a lot of mana, and she also had the skill orb of【Mana Control ★★★★】, so she was easily released from the contract magic.

Non-san said that a unique form of magic or a magic where the mage himself was the intermediary would not be dissolved, but that was not the case for the young lady.

The Earl half rose to his feet with a look of shock.

「Eva, then you…!」

「Yes, father. I remember everything. I killed my mother, didn’t I?」

So, why did the Earl use contract magic?

It seems that the young lady happened to hear about her mother’s death from a butler who worked in the mansion at the time. A contract magic was used to seal her memory and so that their family relation would never be broken again. Not only was her memory sealed, the Earl must have also included that she wouldn’t betray him, and also that he wouldn’t betray her. However, the problem with that is “whether or not the person themselves felt they betrayed the other”. Although the Earl kept various secrets from the young lady, he did it thinking for her sake, so he was safe. However, when the young lady began suspecting the Earl, she felt that she was betraying her own father, that is why the contract magic was activated.

Even though the young lady remembered the fact of her mother’s death, she didn’t lose her composure. She looked completely indifferent. When she came back from the bath, I even wondered if there was no contract magic because I couldn’t notice anything unusual at first.

But after returning to her room in the mansion, the young lady confided everything to me, she clung to me and cried. After she cried till her tears were exhausted, she said, “I am okay now,” and smiled.

―The truth is, she always had a slight suspicion that her mother died because of her “Magic Eye of Inspire”.

「No! That was not your fault at all!」

And for the Earl, his weakest point was the young lady.

「I am alright. I can deal with my own sins properly. More importantly… It’s time for us both to stop relying on each other. I am going to learn to be independent. And father, you have to let go of your child. The people of House Sillys can stand and walk on their own two feet without resorting to cheap magic.」

「But! But you don’t have to leave this house!」

「…Reiji, let’s leave.」

「Yes.」

The young lady and I turned our backs on the Earl.

「Eva! Eva—!!」

The Earl’s sorrowful voice pained my ear. When the Earl was about to get up and chase after us, I released my killing intent—causing the Earl to fall back on the spot, and Captain Maxim flinched.

The young lady was the most important thing to the Earl above all else.

Even when the young lady doubted him, he accepted it as his “daughter’s growth,” and truly believed that she would never betray him.

Because there was the contract magic.

But the young lady overcame it.

And then we left the room.

「…Reiji.」

「Yes.」

「Is what my father did wrong?」

The Earl did his best for this country and for his daughter.

Even if the people around him saw it as “evil”, for him it was righteous.

I… do not resent the Earl. I don’t hate him either. Rather,

(What a tactless person!)

I feel sympathy.

The Earl wanted me to rely more on him and come under his protection. That’s why he tried to coerce me like that.

But that seemed even malicious to me.

Even if his true intention was due to the kindness to protect me.

「He is not wrong. Your father is a very good man.」

I affirmed.

「Then…」

The young lady asks again.

We reached the entrance hall. The maids and butlers who were frightened by the noise outside were gathered there.

I opened the door leading to the outside for the young lady.

「Is what I did wrong?」

Under that dark, pale moonlit night, knights of House Sillys gathered, and many magic lamps illuminated the way to the gate.

Around 100 armed soldiers were gathered outside the gate with magic lamps.

「Not at all.」I affirmed.「If you do something wrong, I will do my best to stop it.」

「……I see.」

When the young lady and I started walking, the knights who noticed us called out to stop, but we ignored it and proceeded steadily.

「There should be an escort called Reiji here. Send him out and this should be over.」

「It is insane to ask for people this late at night.」

At the gate, Lelenore-san and a knight were having a dispute.

They were taken aback when they noticed us approaching. Lelenore-san gave a pained look.

「Reiji… your hand.」

「Yes.」

I held the young lady’s hand. It was incredibly cold. She is forcing herself. I’m worried… At least if I could share my body temperature.

The young lady took one step at a time as if pulling herself towards me as I walked forward. And then she stopped a few steps from the gate.

「Reiji.」

「Yes.」

「…Will you escort me even if I leave the Earl house?」

「Happily.」

「I see… Open the gate, you guys.」

「But, Eva-sama…」

「That is my order. Open the gate.」

「…U-Understood.」

Although confused by the young lady’s order, the knights opened the gate.

On the other side, armed soldiers looked at me varily. They seem to be less trained than the knights of House Sillys. And besides humans, there were a lot of halflings too.

「Lady Eva, please hand over Reiji-dono who is over there. The Earl has already been informed about this.」

Lelenore-san knelt down and requested.

「Reiji is no longer associated with the Earl house.」

「Is that right… then there should be no problem.」

「What will you do with Reiji?」

「…I can’t say.」

「Are you going to kill him?」

「!」

Lelenore-san was taken aback. …You’re going to kill me? That’s scary. Rather, is it so easy to decide whether a person lives or dies?

「I can’t give him to you. Reiji is very important to me… because he’s my escort.」

「But…!」

「Reiji.」

「Yes.」

The young lady turned around and looked up at me. Her eyes shone – it gave me a warm feeling. My body felt hotter and I was motivated to fight.

Ah, is this the “Magic Eye of Inspire”? Controlled magic eyes feel so good!

But, you see, young lady…

Even if you hadn’t used it, I was fired up to fight.

「Can you beat everyone here?」

Lelenore-san was startled by the young lady’s innocent-sounding question, whereas the armed soldiers seemed angered by the fact.

「If  I take it seriously, there is no problem.」

It is an objective fact. In this world, one Gold-rank adventurer is stronger than 100 Iron-rank adventurers.

The difference in skill is that huge.

To sum up, I’m convinced that even if all the armed soldiers in front of us charged at Ouroboros, they couldn’t have defeated it.

「Reiji-kun, calm down…」

Lelenore-san tried to calm me down, but it’s useless.

「Get serious, Reiji.」

The young lady’s order is always simple.

「Clear the way.」

And the errands are always a little rough – but, just for today,

「Understood, my lady.」

I also feel like going wild, so it’s just right.