Translator: Alpha0210
Residue looked at Agolet as he entered the room.
Agolet wore an ambiguous expression that gave nothing away at a glance, though on reflection, the man's face was always like this, so there was nothing particularly new about it.
For someone who had come calling of his own accord, he didn't seem inclined to open his mouth easily either, so Residue had no choice but to ask first.
"Are you that dissatisfied with my Selection?"
Which meant that to learn Agolet's inner thoughts, or his true feelings, he would either have to keep the conversation going or outright needle the man until his composure cracked, and neither was an easy task.
So the first remark Residue tossed out was, in truth, a probing jab with no grand meaning behind it. Agolet, who had been giving him a strange look, finally spoke, slowly.
"Would it not be better to take this humble servant along?"
What was this. He hadn't expected him to open with that.
Residue had anticipated threats, blackmail, fraud, or trickery, yet to his surprise, Agolet had broached the subject in the calm tone of someone conducting a negotiation. Not only that, something about his bearing felt different from usual.
At the very least, his exterior and interior seemed to be in alignment, rather than operating separately.
Residue asked for the reason first.
"Why."
"Your Majesty dragged me out of my hermitage by force. The conversation we shared then, and the promise. To this Agolet, it remains as vivid as if it happened only days ago."
"It actually wasn't that long ago. But did we go so far as to make a promise?"
"We did."
"Hm. My memory's a bit..."
"......"
Agolet didn't answer right away, and the corner of his mouth started to curl upward, so Residue waved a hand and said,
"A joke. Right. This promise you speak of, was it the one about stopping you if you were ever seized by your own desires and ran amok?"
"It was."
"Hmm."
Residue spoke with his chin propped on one hand.
"Agolet. Frankly, I don't think leaving you on your own poses much danger. This isn't some excuse I scrounged up in a hurry to justify leaving you out of the Selection. It wasn't a long time, but it's a thought that kept occurring to me while we traveled together."
"......"
"When you spoke of your past, you treated yourself like a monster beyond your own control, but the man I witnessed after dragging you out was no monster. Just a man who's exceedingly devious, insufferable, and born with a natural gift for twisting people's guts into knots. That was about the extent of it. I'm curious. Since leaving your hermitage, have you been fighting back desires that kept welling up?"
"I have not."
"Then what is it? This reason of yours for insisting on following me to The Outside."
"As this is as good an opportunity as any, I shall tell you."
Agolet nodded readily and looked Residue straight in the eye.
"To be honest, my reason for coming here was half. No, almost entirely impulsive. Hardly a reason befitting me."
"Hm."
"Everything Your Majesty said is true. Once I left my hermitage and rubbed shoulders with the world, the desires within me turned out to be nothing remarkable after all. From time to time I imagined ruining the relationships of those around me, or driving situations to wreck and ruin, but suppressing it was no great difficulty. And yet, as for why I came all the way here......"
Listening quietly, Residue found that Agolet's words, unlike usual, carried a strong air of rambling. Which meant the man himself hadn't quite grasped his own reason for seeking Residue out.
The attitude was unfamiliar to Residue, and yet, for some reason, it drew a laugh out of him. A laugh holding more amusement than scorn. The moment Agolet's voice broke off at the reaction, Residue spoke.
"Agolet."
"Yes."
"Just do as you please."
Agolet closed his mouth.
"You may call me Your Majesty, but it's not as though you truly serve me as your king. There's no need to go asking for my opinion."
"......"
"This is a world that could end at any moment and no one would bat an eye. Too precarious an environment to live in while fretting over every last consequence. If you don't want your life flashing before your eyes at the moment of your death, live as your heart leads you. That's the right way."
"Are you telling me to be honest?"
"Having an exterior that differs from your interior is a matter of disposition. Not something to be forced. What I mean is, when something you want to do comes along, don't hesitate."
"Even if it isn't the right thing to do?"
"You may be mad to a degree, but you can at least tell the difference between crossing the line and not. That's my judgment, at any rate. Granted, you perceive it as knowledge rather than conscience, but you're not the sort to abandon human decency to get what you want."
If Agolet had truly been an uncontrollable madman in the first place, he never would have buried himself away in a hermitage.
Which made the man before him a contradictory figure in many respects.
After a brief silence, Agolet spoke again.
"Then if I ask you to take me along, will you grant it?"
"No."
"Pardon?"
Residue gave a crooked reply.
"There's no law saying I have to grant whatever you wish, is there? Right now, what I want is to go to 'The Outside' with the ones who were just in this room. That's what I want to do."
"......"
"Does my explanation lack a little sincerity? Think of it simply. When something you want to do comes along. It's nice if it lines up with those around you, but the opposite case is far more common in this world. People pursue different things, and clashes break out constantly because of it. That's the world. I'm not trying to say anything grand. When that happens, you simply settle whose way is right."
"How?"
"Dialogue, negotiation, coercion. There are plenty of methods, but the one I favor most is this."
At the reply, delivered with a shake of his fist, Agolet, who had been staring blankly, let out a snort of laughter.
"Then killing Your Majesty right here and seizing the Ticket wouldn't be a wrong method either."
"That's right. There's still time to spare, so if you're going to come at me, come quickly."
"I wonder. Head-on contests don't suit my temperament. I suspect inciting others would be far more entertaining."
"Whom? The Rulers and the Absolutes have already left the King's Castle."
"There is still the Half King, and the other Twelve Void Lords who harbor grievances. Above all, Pale remains."
"Right. Pale, the Blue Knight. There was that woman."
Residue stroked his chin and said,
"You handle her."
"...And the conversation just suddenly turns there?"
"Hear me out first. You can let it go in one ear and out the other for all I care. This is me running my mouth from my own point of view. To begin with, I have no intention of taking anyone to The Outside besides the ones who were just in this room."
"So you said."
"And I told everyone with complaints to come find me before the day was out, and you came first. The others will arrive here soon enough. I'd guess around ten of them, but the Blue Knight likely won't be among them."
Agolet asked, looking somewhat puzzled.
"You said Pale holds special feelings for Lukas Trowman. Are you saying she would refuse, of her own accord, a chance to go out to 'The Outside' where he resides?"
"I am."
"On what grounds?"
"I told only those with complaints to come, and the Blue Knight hasn't. Simple, isn't it? This situation. It means the Blue Knight has no particular complaint."
"......"
Residue lowered his voice.
"That's as far as my certainty goes. I've kept turning over what scheme that woman might be nursing, but nothing comes to mind. She isn't the type whose inner workings I can guess at. It's clear she means to pull something, but as for what it is... I just can't get a read on it......"
"Mm."
"But you could figure it out, couldn't you? Agolet. I, at least, have never met anyone who knows schemes and conspiracies better than you."
Agolet let out a deep sigh.
"I don't know Pale in any great detail either, but I can't imagine her weaving schemes and conspiracies."
"And why is that?"
"Because Pale has no patience."
"Hmm......"
"Once a scheme is laid, it becomes a battle of patience. Waiting for the perfect moment is like crouching in a blizzard as cold and hunger close in; even when a golden opportunity seems to present itself, one must deliberate twice, three times, or more. Does that strike you as behavior suited to Pale?"
"No."
Pale was a woman with no acquaintance with patience. Loath as he was to admit it, in terms of disposition she resembled Residue to a degree.
She moved as her heart dictated, acted on whatever whim struck her, did the deed first, and attached the reasons after the fact. Perhaps the reason they disliked each other lay in this element of loathing one's own kind.
Seen that way, perhaps the reason they had both been drawn to Lukas was also a longing for someone of an entirely different disposition.
...Right. Lukas.
Residue spoke slowly.
"But I don't think it's entirely impossible, either. The Blue Knight's life has been nothing but hunger. She's likely feeling it even now, this very moment. If she set her mind to it, a thing like patience would be no great feat for that woman. And if Lukas is involved... the Blue Knight could endure not twice or three times, but hundreds, thousands of times over."
"......"
"So all told, what I'm saying is that I have no idea what the Blue Knight is thinking. Honestly, it would have sat easier with me if she'd just come at me swinging her sword herself. ...Keep watch at her side. Make sure she can't pull any funny business. That's the countermeasure I've devised for the Blue Knight."
Having heard the whole story, Agolet sighed.
"This doesn't sound like something you planned out systematically either. Didn't you just cobble it together while casting about for some reason to leave me in the Unified World?"
"More or less."
At that, Agolet suddenly burst out laughing.
Residue eyed the white-haired man, who was laughing like someone half-mad, with a strange look. Had he himself cracked some hilarious joke just now?
After laughing for a good while, Agolet's expression shifted, and he said,
"I'm suddenly rather embarrassed, Your Majesty. Please forget what I said just now."
"Forget what?"
"I will not be going to The Outside."
Whatever had come over him, he continued with an oddly unburdened look on his face.
"The peace I feel now only made me anxious. I took it for the calm before the storm. That's why I tried to force my way into following you. I felt that as long as I stayed at your side, things would work out somehow."
Agolet shook his head.
"It wasn't a thought befitting me. Even if you were the one who led me out, leaving my hermitage was, in the end, my own choice. It's only right that I take responsibility for whatever comes after as well."
"I've got no idea what you're on about."
"There's no need for you to understand."
With that, he rose from his seat.
Residue was still watching him with a dazed look on his face.
"I'll take my leave now, Your Majesty. As for the matter you mentioned, I will give it deep consideration."
Saying 'I will consider it' rather than 'I will grant it' was, in its own odd way, so very like Agolet.
When Residue, unable to think of anything in particular to say, simply looked at his face, Agolet gave a faint smile and said,
"I hope we can reunite with all our limbs intact."
With those strangely crooked parting words, Agolet left the room.
Residue wanted to leave him with one last cool remark, but nothing in particular came to mind, so he said,
"...Right. Stay healthy."
*
Right after Agolet departed, the next party entered as if swapping shifts. By the look of them, they had been waiting just outside.
Residue made a sour face.
The first to show herself was the Half King, who tilted her head at the sight of Residue's expression.
"Your color is poor, Residue. Are you sleeping well?"
"I doubt a bit of shut-eye would fix it. I'll catch up on sleep all at once later."
"Hmm. Is that so."
Had the Half King been the only one to enter, he wouldn't have reacted this way. Beside her stood two more. Little ones of similar build: Sedi and Luca.
"What are you two doing? Out you go. You're supposed to wait your turn."
"What's with that coddling tone? It's so gross I could puke."
"Can't we wait inside? It's cold out there."
He was refused, each in her own distinct manner.
Shouting any further didn't seem likely to get through to them, so Residue had no choice but to let all the little brats into the room.
"...Hm."
With the three of them seated, Residue's expression grew even more complicated.
Sedi, who had been quietly watching his face, asked bluntly.
"What. What's with that face."
"Nothing much. It just feels as though I've suddenly become a daycare director......"
"Knock it off."
"Fine."
He might call them brats, but none of the three gave off the air of actual snot-nosed children.
Residue gazed at them blankly for a while, then pointed at them one by one, in order: Sedi, the Half King, Luca.
"The bratty eldest daughter, the composed second daughter, and the youngest who doesn't know the first thing about the world. Is that the feel of it?"
"I said knock it off."
"Right."
Proving the analogy right in real time, was she. Residue nodded in satisfaction, then asked,
"So, what complaints brought you all here in person?"
At that, Sedi, after a moment's hesitation, was the first to speak.
*****
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