“Of course! I mean, Professor Leon hates his family. He’s so vicious towards his dad and stepmom, you’d think they were gonna kill each other. He even ignores you when you call him by the name Schach because it reminds him of his family! Immature, right? So why would he become Count Schach?!”
Lieselotte giggled. “The previous count and his wife were stripped of their nobility and imprisoned. Their designated heir, Professor Leon Schach’s younger brother, is still too young, so the countship went to the closest blood relative.”
“Wow...” Lady Kobayashi murmured.
It was my turn to relay what the royal family had been told. “It’s only a temporary position, though. He’s announced he’ll be adopting his younger brother and handing over the title when the boy comes of age. He’s managing the territory adequately, but he doesn’t seem to be actively socializing. I’m not sure whether he’s proud of being Count Schach. He still pretends he doesn’t hear you if you call him by that name.”
“Oh, so even with his parents gone, he still hates the family itself,” Lady Kobayashi said. “Well, Professor Leon’s always had a ‘screw nobles’ kind of attitude. Man, it’s still surprising, though. In the game, his parents were total scoundrels. It didn’t seem like they could be dealt with so easily.”
Now I was the surprised one. “Is that so? In the past few months, numerous crimes of theirs have come to light, such as tax evasion and the importation, use, and trafficking of illegal drugs. With so much concrete evidence and witness testimony appearing left and right, it’s a wonder how they were able to get away with it for so long.”
I looked to Lieselotte for agreement and she nodded, embarrassed.
“Yes, it’s as Sieg says,” she said. “Also, the other families in the faction they belong to aren’t defending them at all. Seeing how cornered the Schachs were, as well as the crudeness of their methods, almost makes me want to pity them. However, crimes are crimes, so there isn’t any room for sympathy.”
“It’s that bad?” Lord Endo said.
“What in the world happened?” Lady Kobayashi murmured.
The gods still had looks of disbelief on their faces.
Lord Endo furrowed his brow. “Aside from the stuff about Leon’s parents, what I don’t get is why he inherited the title, even if it’s only temporary. In the game—well, from what Shihono said before, Leon really hates things that’re annoying to deal with, doesn’t he? He seems like he’d throw out the countship right away and insist it has nothing to do with him.”
“Yeah,” Lady Kobayashi said. “But going off of my knowledge of the game, things started being weird before that, during the battle with the witch in late fall. Remember when ‘Mr. Karlchen’ showed up?”
We all exchanged looks as if we were hoping someone here knew the answer to our question. The masked mage of justice, Mr. Karlchen, had clearly been Professor Leon.
Prior to the battle, the gods had said, “We want to recruit Professor Leon if we can, but it’s probably impossible. Still, we do want his help, so let’s try asking him anyway. Does anyone know if he has any weaknesses?” However, in the end, no one knew his weaknesses and we gave up.
At least, that’s how it was supposed to be. For some reason, even though the gods had instructed us to forget about recruiting him, he showed up at the battle anyway.
“No one called him or anything, right?” Lord Endo asked.
I nodded firmly. I had checked with Fiene afterwards out of curiosity. She hadn’t tried to persuade him with her tears, nor had I threatened him with my royal authority.
“The Witch of Yore was darkness incarnate,” I said. “Since he’s well versed in black magic, could it be that he somehow sensed her presence?”
“But the witch was already on her last legs at that point,” Lord Endo said, not missing a beat.
Yes, that’s true. By the time Professor Leon had arrived, the Witch of Yore had already been purified by Lieselotte, leaving only tiny remnants of her malice behind. Thus, it wasn’t as though he had sensed a great evil and felt obliged to do something about it.
“I hate to be rude, but Professor Leon Schach seems the type to run away as fast as he can if he senses any sign of trouble,” Lieselotte said.
“I agree,” Lady Kobayashi said. “He was supposed to keep hiding his true ability and avoid making waves. It’s a total mystery what motivated him to come to the battle.”
We all tilted our heads in thought.
“In the game, he found his resolve after falling in love with the heroine, right?” Lord Endo said. “Maybe something similar happened?”
Lady Kobayashi furrowed her brow and hummed. “Yeah, that would get him to join the battle. Plus, his route’s Best End has him rebuilding his family’s reputation—and making his brother indebted to him—until he can hand over the reins. But it should’ve taken a lot longer for him to reach that ending.”
“Oh, I see. Well, yeah. Normally, he wouldn’t be able to work up the resolve to take on that situation so quickly.”
“Yep. In the game, it doesn’t happen until after Fiene graduates from school. His parents are imprisoned, but the disputes with officials, servants, and other involved people keep coming, and he has to keep showing that he didn’t have anything to do with his parents’ crimes. It’s a ton of work, and he gets a lot of negative attention from the public. He’s got a tough road ahead. Plus, Fiene’s with Bal, not him.”
“Oh, right. And since the witch groveled on her knees without putting up a fight, the only one who got an achievement out of the battle was Saint Lieselotte.”
“Yeah, exactly. In the game’s Leon Route, Fiene becomes the nation’s Maiden of Salvation who defeated the witch, and Professor Leon’s her partner. That’s how he was able to reverse public opinion.”
“W-Wait a moment, please!” Lieselotte cut in.
I had simply been listening and acknowledging there was much I did not know. More importantly, I thought it would be rude to interrupt the gods’ conversation. Lieselotte had likely been thinking the same, but she couldn’t overlook Lady Kobayashi’s last statement.
“Huh?” Lady Kobayashi asked. “What’s wrong, Liese-tan?”
Lieselotte trembled slightly, her face pale. “The Maiden of Salvation and her partner... I-In other words, I stole the fame and honor that was supposed to go to Fiene and her beloved, did I not?”
“Nah, if the witch had revived, there might’ve been casualties,” Lord Endo said. “What you did was even better, that’s all. You didn’t steal anything. Right, Shihono?”
Lady Kobayashi nodded firmly. “That’s right, Liese-tan! Not only did you subdue the Witch of Yore, you purified her and revived the Goddess Lirenna, making you an official saint. You’re the only one who could’ve accomplished this, so you don’t need to feel guilty at all. The game’s ‘Maiden of Salvation’ title wasn’t formal or anything. It was more like a nickname. Besides, don’t you think Fiene’s already overwhelmed by what she’s got now?”
“Overwhelmed?” Lieselotte tilted her head in confusion.
Lady Kobayashi grinned. “I mean, she can hear the Voices of the Gods. That gives her a lot of influence, doesn’t it? Plus, she’s super strong, she has the crown prince and princess’s favor, and she’s engaged to a future marquis. Having a nickname like the Maiden of Salvation would just make people pay even more attention to her, so wouldn’t her life be more peaceful without it? If you offered it to her now, I bet she’d refuse.”
“Indeed... I can imagine her complaining if she were to receive such an alias. She would likely still be confused to this day.”
“Exactly,” Lord Endo said. “And if you’re concerned about her partner, Baldur, he didn’t get to become the Maiden of Salvation’s knight, but he did receive a divine blessing from me, a god from a foreign realm. Is that not enough?”
“It’s more than enough,” Lieselotte said. “A god’s divine blessing is far more significant than any single war achievement.” She seemed to have had a revelation.
Lady Kobayashi smiled at her. “Yep, so don’t worry about it. Anyway, we were talking about Professor Leon, right? What forceful means did he use to inherit the countship without the Maiden of Salvation’s power, and how did he do it that fast? Heck, why did he force his way there in the first place? Don’t you think it’s strange?”
“What if Leon was destined to settle things with his family eventually, even without Fiene’s involvement?” Lord Endo asked. “Or, considering how crude his parents’ methods were, maybe they were fated to ruin. Leon was willing to leave his comfort zone to make that happen and figured he might as well raise his younger brother properly while he was at it. Could it be something like that?”
The gods tilted their heads, unable to come up with a clear answer.
Why did he appear at the battle against the Witch of Yore, and why did he inherit the countship? Even the gods cannot say, so the truth must only be known to the man himself.