(Rudeus POV)
"Sir Sandor, could you be more specific and state the exact purpose behind your request?"
Just outright asking me to sit out a monster raid is random. He has to have good reasons to ask- no, demand that from me.
"I came to notice of your injured state of body. Letting you participate in this would cause you to harm yourself to death again."
Die again? It's clear to me that Perugius might have told him about my still recovering body, but I didn't know he was aware of my death. Arumanfi must've found my corpse when I was still dead back at Millishion.
I probably shouldn't have given Sandor that flute. This is clearly putting him into the mindset that I will be a liability.
"The Armored Dragon King can rest easy knowing I will not use the [Bright Sky Wave] for this. I have done enough damage as it is."
"The what?!"
Deliberately blurting out two major subjects made the two people behind me freeze on the spot, and Luke, who stood next to Sandor, shouted in disbelief.
My cold demeanor took Sandor aback. He must think this is out of line for me, but I don't care. He just revealed to people about my death. I could've easily revealed his true identity if I wanted to.
"It is for your own good, lad. What reason do you have to do all of this? Let the adults handle things from here on out."
"Your worries mean nothing to me, Sandor, much like the attempts of Perugius to get me to step foot on [Chaos Breaker]. The way he keeps persisting on it is suspicious."
"Rest assured, the Dragon God's actions have nothing to do with him."
Even my incident with Orsted? What other things of mine does Perugius know of? He is probably mad that the mountain range in the south is now impassable after my attack.
"He wants to get on friendly terms with you and help you heal your body from the injuries you have suffered. Accepting his offers like that Fimiliar Contract he gifted you will only benefit you."
"What says it isn't a trap meant to seal me and/or my dragon away? I'm not that gullible to use any magic scribble because someone says it's for my own good."
Besides the flute, the other present I received from Nanahoshi was a Magic Circle used to form a contract with a Fiend to turn them officially into their Familiar without the summoning.
I was already skeptical of its credibility, and Nanahoshi couldn't tell more about it since it was drawn with highly advanced techniques, so I refrained from using it in the first place to avoid the outcome I feared it would bring.
"Showing Hiryū the contract carries a great risk. He takes pride in all his actions, and if I ask him to agree to turn him into a familiar through a means of a contract, it will seem like his sworn loyalty to me is insufficient, potentially seeming to him like I insult him personally.
I'm not saying the Armored Dragon King should've thought about that since I can't tell what else he knows about me, but it takes a different approach to gain my trust.
You and Perugius should worry more about the current situation and not concentrate on one person alone while thousands are at risk."
"That's not something you need to shoulder. Risking your life for others like that isn't something someone your age should worry about."
"You are correct. I shouldn't. But in the end, it comes down to letting people out there die or taking action and be of assistance. What I'm doing is lending my strength at times when I'm there, just like back at Rosenburg. I'm not doing all of this for some hero complex. I'm doing it because I'm right here."
I was being hypocritical. That is not even close to how I truly feel. I'm only doing this because there are people here that I care about, like my and Sara's parties or Zanoba and Sylphy. Be it as it is, I don't care if people think of me as a hero. But doing nothing about it would be even worse.
I'm not just looking out for any city in need; I'm doing it because it's happening right before me. If someone were to tell me that a village or city far away would need help, I wouldn't just leave my things and do something about it; I would leave it to their authorities to handle. I have my own things to prioritize anyway.
"Then what about your friends? The looks on their faces yesterday showed how worried they are for you."
"They already witnessed me in a more terrible state before... and they know how dangerous things usually come after me and end up for me. Just like back at Rosenburg, the dragons saw me as a threat to their potential territories or their order in rank and hunted me towards even the town."
Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Sylphy is getting more worried by the second I say all of that, but I need to get my point taken.
However, Sandor's facial expression shifted to one of sternness.
"Can you handle it, even if you don't come back alive this time around?"
Not this kind of question again. He doesn't even know me, so what else will he use to persuade me? Wait a second...
"How much did Perugius tell you about my incident with Orsted at the Red Dragon's Lower Jaw?"
"Don't you think such subjects should be talked about privately?"
"I don't care. It will be a good example for Ariel why working with me is such a bad idea."
Telling them about how I lost my cool and endangered Ruijerd and Eris before Orsted killed me should prove as a warning that I'm not cooperative and could turn into a threat if we encounter again.
That Fire Spell would have killed them along with me had Orsted not used that spell-absorbing technique. Even now, I still fear that I'm constantly putting Soldat and the others in such danger, but I should be able to regulate it since there doesn't exist a second man like Orsted... I hope.
"Isn't this more than enough?" Luke intervened, so we all looked at him. He was looking at me with disdain in his eyes, also radiating from him.
"Not only are you being rude to Lady Ariel but also to Sir Sandor, who just wants to save you from killing yourself for obvious reasons now mentioned, but you are furthermore badmouthing a legendary hero who sees the danger you possess. Expecting support from you was worthless from the beginning."
Wow. It turns out he can say something sensible after all. As I already told Ariel, she should have listened to him when he advised against meeting me. They could have avoided a lot of trouble if she let Sylphy meet me alone.
I wonder how that would have turned out. Would I have downright rejected any invitation without knowing who she really is? Or would Sylphy remove her glasses from the beginning to tell me it's her?
"Luke. I believe it is you who needs to think of his position as of now."
The next one to intervene was Ariel, her voice unexpectedly stern as if she fully dropped her mask to let her honest emotions get out. Even Luke and Sylphy send off scared signals because of her change in character.
"Princess Ariel, as your guardian, I must keep you safe from such monsters as much as possible. But it is proving difficult as Fitz sees nothing but his friend in him. Friend or not, such blindness to the threat he poses is unbefitting as a guardian.
I will say it again. We do not need him. Especially now that we know Sandor has connections with the Armored Dragon King. If we gain his support, there is little to nothing in your way of getting the throne."
I am urged to correct him, but I would risk revealing Sandor's true identity if I did.
But is support from Perugius really that valuable to Ariel? I vaguely remember him staying in the Asura Kingdom after the battle against Laplace. He must've left an impact on the king if having an audience with him is so special.
"I hate to break to you, but I'm not the one who has connections to him."
It seems that Sandor wants to keep his true identity hidden after all. If he were to say he is the son of one of the three heroes, he would have no choice but to admit his association with Perugius.
Either he wants to get out of the fame he had built up and start off as a new person, like some celebrity back in my world.
"What do you mean? Was all you just said not true?"
Luke seems to panic. His arrogance must've given him false hope, only to be crushed in the next second.
"The one having given me the means to contact him was Rudeus. He gave me the necessary means to contact him so I could confirm some things, especially the insect colony. If anything, he is the one you want to get the chance for an audience with the Armored Dragon King."
Getting this small detail revealed, Luke became overwhelmed with shock. He looked between Sandor and me, not getting a word fathomed inside of that dumbstruck head of his.
"I hate to do this. I truly do, but you leave me no choice, Luke."
It seems like Ariel is about to bring her final verdict onto her knight. Her eyes were sharp, and her hands were placed on each other, slightly above her waistline. Truly, the posture an angered mistress of her status would take. Unlike a different high-status lady I know of.
"Despite being provoked, you let your anger get the better of you and recklessly attacked with the special Magic Item given to you by the Royal Family, which has now been irreparably broken.
We can call it a miracle that he has not targeted the palace yet now that we know what scale of destruction his Magic truly has.
After my conversation with him, he put me in a neutral position regarding whether I was his enemy. And now you're putting me in danger of being labeled an enemy of his after all.
Any chances we could have had to allow an audience with the Armored Dragon King is being ruined by you. As such, the actions you call unbefitting of a guardian to Fitts apply to only you, who has been doing nothing but risk the lives of the both of us."
"Princess Ariel. While I may not know exactly what the three of you were talking about, Sandor already mentioned several good reasons against getting him into our cause."
Is he talking about my dislike of Perugius and how I don't want to use his presents? It's mostly because he isn't the kind of hero you would have expected from the stories. Honestly, I no longer know what to believe in the stories written. Especially since Hitogami could have his hands in some of those tales.
Luke's gaze turned to me, a smug look on his face as he gave some utterly out-of-the-blue list of reasons that led to a conclusion I didn't expect to hear from the likes of him.
"Changed appearance. Different personality. Absurd prowess, unbefitting for a human. All those are indications that this person right here is nothing but a spirit that has taken over the dead body of Rudeus Greyrat. Perhaps even the reincarnation of the Demon God, Laplace, the sworn enemy of Perugius."
""""...""""
Is… Is he serious? What world-function conspiracy theory gave him such a ludicrous idea? While he may not be far off in terms of someone having taken over this body, I don't get how he came up with that concept on his own. Especially the part of me being Laplace.
I know of spirits getting classified as monsters and the appropriate Magic, Divine-Strike Magic, monopolized by the Millis Kingdom, to deal with them from Mimir. Still, I have never heard of how to deal with possessed people.
If such a method exists, how would it affect me or my curse? Wait, no. If that were to exist, then Hitogami would have used it against me while I was still in Millishion. Like with the Asura Kingdom, he could have had more apostles in other kingdoms.
"That is a serious accusation you are making there. We already settled this, so please stop complaining and making baseless claims that could cost us our homeland."
"Baseless claims? Fitts has told us beforehand about his previous appearance. And besides, how the hell could a 13-year-old defeat one of the strongest people in the world? He has got to be the Demon God for something like that to be possible."
"Actually, the World Power Monument is proving you wrong."
Sandor's intervention is yet again at it. What will it be this time? And what about the monuments proving something?
"No one can have two spots on the monuments simultaneously. If Rudeus were Laplace, they would not have changed since his rank would have been higher than Death God's."
"What says that it's his symbol replacing it? He doesn't have anything to- huh?!"
Everyone looked toward Luke's dumbfounded expression to see me having taken out my pendant, the number five symbol on the monuments.
"It's a graduation gift from my master before she left my home village. It's the same symbol I engraved on the stone figurines I sold, hoping my mother would hear about them and their creator and give me a signal someday for me to find her."
"Y-You used a product with your rank symbol to promote yourself for only that?" It seems Ariel has difficulty taking in my figurine's plot.
Someone who is considered one of the strongest and an amateur artist in his spare time? Surely, I can't be an exception in this world just because I come from another, more advanced one, right? Hasn't she heard about the superhuman doll enthusiast?
"Not exactly. I sold them before becoming a Great World Power. After becoming one, I was under the assumption that I would inherit the title of Death God, and so did Randolf. I didn't anticipate an update to happen, and before I knew it, everyone in Rosenburg knew it was me since some saw me take on a dragon head-on while defending the citizens."
While Ariel was still processing my words, I felt admiration from Sylphy overflowing against me. At the same time, Sandor had signals of regret coming from him. He probably thinks I do all of this because of my good heart.
Meanwhile, Luke still wasn't tuning it down and gave me death glares.
"That doesn't mean anything. You could've just forged that after the-"
"ENOUGH!" Ariel shouted.
Luke was startled as he looked over to see the truly angered Ariel shooting him a sharp look herself.
"I'm sorry, Luke, but I cannot see how you can fulfill your duties as a guardian if your behavior interferes with that. Especially with that cryptic accusation of Sir Rudeus being the Demon God.
You will be relieved of your duties for an undetermined duration while on house arrest. Sandor will substitute you for now until I have decided on a better punishment for you."
"Princess Ariel, this is ridiculous. I-"
"You are right! This is ridiculous! But I do not feel safe under your care. So, as your princess, the best you can do is reflect upon yourself during your suspension and think about your actions so far. Now leave."
Stunned by her judgmental glare, Luke stammered backward a little bit. He switched his gaze at me again before getting cut off by Sylphy, who stood between us.
"The princess has spoken. Do as she says now."
Sylphy's voice was stern like Ariel's. It shows me yet again how much she has grown these years.
Sandor even went up to him to place a hand on his shoulder.
"You heard them. That's enough."
Feeling upset about having no one to back him up and his coworker siding with their superior's decision, he smacked Sandor's hand off his shoulder and stormed out of the room after giving me a final death glare.
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