saiki

69

"I..."

Damien, hesitating, cautiously spoke.

"I haven't thought about it since. That promise with you, Your Highness."

"..."

"When all the monsters are defeated and peace comes to these frontlines, Your Highness, ask me again then."

Damien looked up at me with a face I couldn't tell was smiling or crying.

"I'll answer then. Whether I still... hate you."

"That day will surely come, Damien."

Three more years.

Whatever form it takes, a conclusion will come after walking the entire path to the ending.

"And no matter what your answer is then, I will gladly accept it."

I reached out and covered the bandaged eye of Damien. He remained motionless.

Loyalty and hatred. Grace and resentment.

The player and the cheat character.

It didn't matter what kind of relationship we had. I wished for this little boy, who helped me, to be happy someday.

No matter what ending we met, I could only wish for that to happen...

***

The stage ended and a day had passed into the night.

I returned to my room completely exhausted.

"Oh, my poor body, oh..."

I was already nursing a ruined left arm, my whole body creaked from harsh battles.

But I couldn't afford to rest completely. I had to know the exact result of the defense I didn't attend.

The real outcome, something I couldn't know from the system calculation window alone.

So, I went to look around everything, from the city walls to the artifact storage, all sorts of production facilities, and the soldiers at the shrine, and only now had returned.

"I'm so tired... I could die..."

A victory feast was to be held tonight, but I was in no condition to attend, so I just gave a congratulatory speech and came back.

Even without me, the others would entertain the soldiers well. Like Jupiter, Jupiter, Jupiter...

'I trust you, Jupiter.'

She was a sure talent when it came to alcohol, smoking, gambling, and wasteful spending. You go ahead and liven up the atmosphere and play well with the soldiers.

"Yaaawn."

Sitting on the bed, I was instantly overwhelmed by fatigue.

I wanted to fall asleep immediately, but I couldn't postpone the tasks for today. I opened the system window.

First, class change.

In the last battle, two of the main party characters reached the level required for class change.

I reached level 20, making the first class change possible, and Lucas reached level 35, making the second class change possible.

First, Lucas.

I opened Lucas's stat window. Let's look at the abilities of our cute SSR protagonist, let's see~

[Lucas (SSR)]

- Level: 35

- Title: The Prince's Bodyguard/Hero

- Profession: Veteran Knight