675 – 8. Last Words (49)
A good weapon does not change no matter how many years pass. The same goes for good friends.
Perhaps ‘Leto’ is that kind of person to me. Although we’ve known each other for over 10 years, Leto’s attitude towards me has always remained the same. Even though we had a few minor fights, our friendship remained the same.
This is why I had no choice but to call Leto ‘an indispensable friend.’
Furthermore, Leto meant more to me than just a friend. Unlike me, he was a gifted child who stood out from a young age with an extraordinary brain, and he had a history of giving me useful advice on several occasions.
It was the same today.
My close friend did not seem surprised by my sudden request for counseling. On the contrary, he just opened the door with a light sigh, as if he was used to such unexpected situations.
Even after I got to the point, his face showed no signs of agitation.
“It seems like Dalton and Eindel are in cahoots.”
“I guess so.”
An insignificant answer.
Leto answered like that without even the slightest hesitation. As someone who had just uncovered the secret, I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.
“No, I’m talking about ‘secret communication’? The representative of the empire is secretly talking with the representative of the Holy Kingdom! Neither of them can even know the true intentions…….”
“So, I doubt it. No matter how powerful a family is, it is not easy to push out a strong successor. But then he suddenly appears and deposes Alpenhauser’s twin?”
A huff of laughter escapes Leto’s mouth as he sips his tea. It didn’t take long before he shook his head.
“I overdid it. Or that the family is one of the same… Anyway, there is definitely a reason to come here. But every time Dalton does something, Eindel intervenes.”
As I listened to Leto, there were scenes that suddenly came to mind.
At a meeting not long ago, wasn’t Eindel the person who dissuaded the saint who was trying to positively consider the saint’s dispatch?
Furthermore, it was Eindel who first requested the introduction of liquid originating from the relics of the Seven Sins. In fact, the permit was an issue that Dalton had put on the agenda.
While I was lost in reminiscence, Leto declared.
“The composition is strange. “It’s so suspicious.”
“Then you could have warned me first, right?”
“I only became convinced recently because Dalton has been acting so unexpectedly. “I had no idea that such a well-established merchant would expose his true feelings so blatantly.”
Soon, a sigh flows out from my mouth.
After listening, I realized that Leto was right. Dalton was a businessman with a cunning mind and a skilled tongue. It was not common for such a person to reveal his true intentions.
Nevertheless, Dalton is exposing quite blatant actions.
Why on earth?
There were several possibilities. Maybe it’s because every minute is so urgent that you don’t even have time to hide your feelings, or…….
“A lot has changed.”
“…… ?”
It was that one word that blocked my thoughts, which were flowing like water, like a stumbling block.
Should I say it feels like I’m stuck on a rock while pulling a cart? I had no choice but to return a bewildered look at Leto’s sentiment, whose intentions I could not understand.
In fact, Leto was just sipping his tea without any special expression.
“You, you… In the past, you lived without thinking. “I thought I would just commit it without any hesitation.”
I have no idea.
It was truly Leto-like. There aren’t many talented people who would casually spit out harsh words like this. I couldn’t help but laugh at that absurd slander.
“What are you talking about? “What a deep person I am.”
“You may have deep thoughts, but your thoughts may have been short. “When I heard the rumor that you were swinging a hatchet at random, I honestly thought it was coming.”
“No, that much?”
If I was swinging a hatchet around at random, it would have been right after I received a love letter from the future.
Isn’t that a time when I literally acted without hesitation under the influence of ‘I’ from the future? Senior Elsie was axed, Delphine was axed, the princess was also axed, and anyway, they were axed.
Thinking back, he was truly the epitome of a madman. It’s amazing that my neck is still attached.
Of course, the reason my name continues to endure is largely thanks to the dedicated help of my colleagues, including Leto. I don’t want to admit it, but I guess it’s thanks to the arrangements made by ‘me’ from the future.
Yes, if you peel back the layers of my activities, I actually didn’t do much. Thanks to the power of ‘I’ from the future, and thanks to the consideration and sacrifice of my colleagues, I have only survived despite my stubbornness so far.
Not anymore.
I couldn’t act like a child anymore. I don’t know if it’s anyone else, but at least Leto is aware of my thoughts.
The fact that he was clicking his tongue was proof of that.
“Do you know where your temper goes? It was like that the day we first met. ‘Sparring’ doesn’t beat up Celine… “It’s not easy for a noble to do that in someone else’s house.”
“At that time, well… ….”
I wanted to make an excuse, but a bitter smile soon appeared on my lips.
Yes, it was.
That day was the first meeting between Celine and Leto. I remember going to see Baron Einston, and there was a lonely little boy left alone outside, so I hung out with him.
It was a precious memory. Because I gained two best friends that day.
Now I’ve lost one of them.
Perhaps Leto knows my feelings. Still, pretending to know would only make me suffer more, so he continued as if nothing had happened.
“You have been unusual since you were young. Nana and Celine grew up early for some reason… “You paid for the night alone.”
“Not anymore.”
Phew, he said with a sigh.
Inwardly, I expected Leto to point out, ‘You’re still in puberty,’ but surprisingly, Leto didn’t make any mockery. But he just stared at me without saying a word.
It was my role to fill the silence with sound.
“You can’t stay in puberty forever…” If I’m stubborn, it’ll only make things difficult for my people, and I’ll have to live with worries too. “My responsibility has become more important than before.”
That was my honest impression.
I realized this after losing Celine. No, maybe it was something I only learned after I lost my power.
I was just being stubborn.
Ideals are high, but reality is always below them. I was not the one who built tall towers that would reach the ideal on the soggy ground.
‘Me’ from the future, or the colleagues who worked hard for me.
Even if just one of them creaked, it looked like this. A world where there is defeat, despair, and yet nothing is achieved.
I was lucky enough to be able to turn my eyes away from the truth.
The process of becoming an adult inevitably involves pain. Should I say it was a process of sculpting my enlarged self? I was literally going through a slightly late ‘puberty’.
Leto also did not offer much consolation to my lethargy.
“Okay, whatever. “I guess so.”
Although he was a great advisor, he was not a caring counselor. It was only after hearing Leto’s words that I realized that my choice was right.
Leto never says anything wrong. Because at least he listened to what he said and he didn’t suffer any loss.
However, if you exclude gambling and women.
That was the moment when I smiled bitterly.
“But I thought you would be different.”
A voice that hits you like a sudden gust of wind.
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I hesitated for a moment, forgetting what I wanted to say, and then gave him an incomprehensible look.
Leto’s expression remained calm. So much so that the past, in which he asserted that he knew someone better than anyone else, becomes laughable.
“I didn’t want you to grow up.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well.”
The vague answer felt like a kind of grumpiness.
Leto often said this. When you are not sure of your own answer, or when you do not want to obediently tell me the answer.
I knew it. Despite this, I had a hard time finding emotions for some unknown reason.
“Then what can I do? My body is a mess, and instead of helping me, I become a burden… Now it’s just a nuisance…….”
“Have I ever told you why I like gambling?”
I am at a loss for words when the question returns unexpectedly.
So silence. Leto’s intentions were still a mystery as he glanced away and tilted his teacup.
“Theoretically, if you can completely analyze the number of cases, the probability of losing money in gambling is extremely low. Of course, this is assuming that gambling is repeated multiple times…….”
“What do you want to say?”
“I don’t lose money gambling because I can’t calculate the odds.”
The premise of being ‘theoretical’ was tantamount to saying ‘impossibility’.
In other words, even Leto could not completely analyze the number of cases. But if you can analyze it roughly, you won’t have to lose that much money.
Of course, Leto didn’t seem to care much whether I made a puzzled expression or not. Instead, he gave me the advice I needed.
“Ian, you have to be careful. If an asshole like Dalton is willing to expose his true feelings, he needs to be urgently needed…….”
Or, it means that there is no need to hide your true feelings.
Not long after the answer to the question I had been stuck on was revealed, I realized that Leto was right.
Shortly after the world trembled, atmospheric currents became tangled, and the Academy was ultimately isolated from the outside world.
I realized the true nature of Eindel’s plot.
“f*ck you.”
Isolating the academy after the swordsmith was dispatched to the outside world.
It was a technique that even vampires had demonstrated.
And, it was also the biggest crisis of my life.
The end of puberty was approaching.