Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

The tea party ended in the afternoon, so Kyle went to see off his family and Lieze as they were returning to Rimarze.

‘Why do we have to escort those humans…’

‘We were treated to truly delicious food, so this is the least we can do, or we will be hurting our honor as dragons.’

Ghrud and Irumera changed back into their dragon form, discussing such.

“You can stay in Rimarze for a while. There’s some local food you can’t get anywhere else,” Lieze said, to which both Irumera and Ghrud showed interesting reactions.

‘I thought I’d eaten a lot, but I guess there is still more…’

‘Zeurus-sama said we should see the human world for ourselves, so this might be perfect.’

The dragons seemed to have completely fallen victim to the food culture of humanfolk.

“Additionally, Angela-sama, thank you for allowing us to use your flying dragons.”

Right around that time, Lieze thanked Angela, who was about to head off back to the Empire.

“No, this much is nothing. We did bring Seraia-sama and her family here, so we have the responsibility. Plus, I wouldn’t be able to see Brother Konrad again if I mistreated his teacher,” he said the last part in a quiet voice that Lieze couldn’t hear.

To Angela, Seraia was an important person to her brother, so she couldn’t mistreat her and her family.

“Please stay well, Angela-sama.”

“And you too, everyone. Let us meet again.”

They shared a few brief farewells, all of them smiling happily. Amidst all of them, one person didn’t seem all too pleased, like he was bothered by something—Seran. Ever since Angela had come here, he had mentally prepared himself for any possible action she might be plotting, but since she was so busy, she couldn’t spend any time with him. In fact, Angela had realized that something was off about Seran and approached him.

“What’s wrong? You seem a bit dissatisfied?”

“Huh?”

“Ah, right…Could we talk for a brief moment, Seran-sama?”

“Ah…Well, yeah.”

He was a bit bewildered at first but eventually relieved that she had finally approached him. They walked away to an isolated part of the fortress’s wall. However, Angela just stared at Seran’s face in silence.

“…Um, what’s wrong?”

Seran felt like something was different about her and asked that question, but Angela jumped right to it.

“The thing is…my engagement has been finalized. It hasn’t been made official, but it is under my father’s orders…”

“What…?! And you’re…fine with that?”

In the past, Angela didn’t like the person she was supposed to marry, and so bet on the fact that Seran would score big at the Martial Arts Festival, to break the promise. Yet now that it had come to this, it was all pointless.

“Yes, well…It’s my father’s last wish, and I have no complaints about the person, either. He wouldn’t choose someone who would bring me misfortune.”

Her smile showed utmost trust in her father, leaving Seran unable to say anything.

“So, I’d like to ask one thing…Why did you listen to my request back then? I know it might sound weird coming from me, but I didn’t think anybody would agree to that.”

“Ah, that…” Seran was stuck for an answer.

For the most part, he’d hoped that he would be able to end up fighting against Kyle if he could join the tournament, but he did want to help out Angela.

“What to say…I just couldn’t leave you alone, I guess,” Seran scratched his cheek, slightly bashful, but argued that it was the expected thing to do.

“Is that so…I’m glad I got to meet you and everyone else. I had such a wonderful time…”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“Though I didn’t think I’d be traveling with you to the denim territory, let alone fighting a demon.”

“Please keep that a secret. We’d be dead if people found out.”

Angela let out a laugh. It wasn’t a political and noble smile befitting of a princess, or that of a moody kitten…it was that of a singular, adolescent girl. She skipped over to Seran, gently pressing her lips on his cheek.

“Farewell, Seran-sama. Thank you for everything.”

She walked away, leaving Seran standing still, dumbfounded. Since he was known to act before thinking, he didn’t know what reaction to make. And it took him until Angela’s Wyvern took off to even move again. Once they had disappeared, he let out a sigh. And then…

“So basically, she couldn’t abandon her position as the princess in the end,” Urza calmly analyzed the situation.

“Though I don’t think that’s just it. Knowing Angela-sama, she’d definitely twist and turn the rules for her own convenience,” Lieze crossed her arms with a complicated expression.

“I guess there are some circumstances that only she understands,” Shildonia nodded to herself like she had understood the situation perfectly.

“…If you’d asked her to run away with you, she might have come with you, you know?” said Minagi, as she thought about something.

“You guys…Can’t I have some privacy?”

The others watched everything unfold from start to finish, so Seran grumbled.

“Angela-sama knew that we were watching. But since she didn’t say anything, she probably didn’t mind, right?” Lieze pressed her own righteousness.

Of course, Seran was aware of that, so he didn’t actually shoo them away.

“So, what now? How did you feel about Angela-sama?” Lieze’s eyes lit up in anticipation as she asked that question, but the other members seemed equally interested.

Seran just aggressively ruffled through his hair and spoke up.

“Ah, for crying out loud…She’s like a little sister constantly in need of attention.”

And she was not more than that. It was how he genuinely felt.

“And yet, you look like you just lost something incredibly precious.”

“Agh…!”

Seran couldn’t argue back at Shildonia’s comment.

***

“All right. Take care, Kyle.”

“Don’t catch a cold.”

Through the window of the cage, Seraia and Roel waved at their son. Even Alessa copied her mother and did the same. Next to her were Lieze and Urza, waving their hands at him, too. Once he was not in view anymore, they turned around.

“…I haven’t been in Rimarze for quite some time. I wonder how everyone is going.” Lieze tried to shake off her loneliness and spoke up with a cheerful tone.

“Last time we stopped by, we couldn’t stay for long, either.”

“You can take it easy, Urza-san. I’d love to hear about all sorts of things about Kyle and his journey,” Seraia gave Urza a gentle offer.

“It’s not that great of a place, you know? Just a rural village.”

“Don’t say that. Don’t you have any attachment to it?”

“So she says. Anything there is to do after coming back to Rimarze?”

“Not for you, I bet. And with Leyla-san gone…Wait, Seran?! Why are you here?!”

Seran joined in the conversation without anybody even realizing until Lieze screamed in shock.

“I mean, Kyle told me to come with you guys, so here I am.”

“Huh? What…?”

Originally, it was only supposed to be Lieze and Urza together with his parents.

“Well, he’s gotta have some plan in mind. Knowing him and all…”

Seran glanced over at the [Tower of Beginnings] in the distance.

“Finally, I can breathe again…”

Watching his friends and family be carried off by Irumera, Kyle felt all tension leave his body. He was happy to meet his family, but they were also partially the reason for his exhaustion.

“But are you sure you should have sent those three away?” Minagi uttered a worried voice.

With all of them gone, it was just Kyle, Shildonia, and Minagi left.

“Yeah, this is a lot more convenient.”

In order to take care of the last regrets he had. After relaxing in his room for a bit, Kyle went to look for Milena. She greeted him with her usual smile but guessed that Kyle wanted something important, so she had everyone else leave the room.

“What’s wrong? You seem a bit restless…”

Kyle hesitated until the very moment he spoke his words.

“Actually, I have a favor to ask of you…”

Milena was surprised because of his serious tone but cheered up immediately.

“Oh dear, please ask whatever you need. As long as it’s possible for me…”

“I would like to talk with Frederica. Just the two of us.”

Kyle said and looked over at the woman, who was still present in the room. Milena must have understood what he intended to do, as her facial color changed.

“…Are you sure?”

Frederica’s older brother Zentos was part of the plot to assassinate Milena, and it was Kyle who stopped those plans, which cost Zentos his life. However, making this public would have caused a major uproar, so it was instead decided that he had lost his life in order to protect Milena. Even so, Frederica knew the truth. She knew that Kyle took her brother’s life.

“Is that really necessary? I don’t believe there to be much benefit. And she seems to have no complaints about the situation.”

Truth be told, there really wasn’t any need to go this far. Especially for Zilgus, they probably wanted to keep this under the rug. Even Kyle had no intention of doing this, either. No matter how many resentful glares she’d send him, he could simply ignore that. However, things changed because she was Zentos’ little sister, after all. And now that he had been reunited with his former comrade-in-arms Basques—

I wouldn’t want Alessa to look at me like that.

If something were to happen in the future, and his little sister would look at him like that…he wouldn’t want to imagine. Time might heal those wounds, but Kyle didn’t want to leave it up to time for Frederica to make up her mind. It was all just for his own self-satisfaction and was just greedy with this. Thinking about it logically and objectively, anybody else would have stopped him.

“I’m sorry. This is just my own selfishness.”

“…I understand. If that is what you wish for.”

“Thank you very much.”

“It’s fine. You have the right to be that selfish. But, I have one condition,” Milena smiled.