Leobolt had originally been a swordsman of such supreme skill that people had called him a Sword Saint. However, after giving himself over to the demon side, the dark powers he had obtained made him even more powerful than before. Each of his sword strikes boasted destructive force that defied imagination. If I had tried to use my shield to block them head-on, they would’ve torn straight through both me and the shield alike.
I deflected his devastating attacks one after the other, stopping them with the minimum amount of force I could muster. I had been forced into a battle with absolutely no margin for error.
“Tell me, Sieg,” Leobolt asked me as we were locked in combat. “Do you remember the first time we fought?”
“You mean the mock battle during your entry exam...?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“That made me very happy.”
“Happy...?”
“Yes,” Leobolt responded with a nod. “No one had ever been able to fight me on equal footing before. You, though, were different. You were not merely on par either—you had surpassed that level.”
Gazing directly at me, he continued, “I believed I had finally found a kindred spirit.”
“Honestly... I thought you would make a great comrade too,” I said. “But now you’ve gone and done this. Why?”
“To right a world that has gone wrong,” he replied. “This world is backward. People deem things that are wrong to be right and denounce things that are right as being wrong. Do you not find that odd?”
“Are you talking about being ousted from your Commander position?”
“I did what was right for the sake of my goal. That is why I pushed the guards as hard as I did, and why I tried to raise taxes to increase our budget. Both of those things were done for the sake of protecting the world!” Leobolt shouted in disgust. “Yet nobody else understood that.”
“Leobolt... You’re right about a lot of things,” I said. “But there’s something you’ve got the wrong impression about. Just because you’re right doesn’t mean people are going to get behind you.”
Leobolt was a brilliant, righteous man—but because he had those qualities, he couldn’t imagine anyone not having them.
“Not everybody has the same kind of strength and righteousness as you do. They’re foolish, weak, and make mistakes sometimes. That’s just how normal people are.”
“Indeed. The incident you mentioned taught me that lesson most painfully,” he said, then grinned suddenly. “You know, Sieg, I always wanted to be a hero.”
“A hero...?” I heard myself repeat, taken aback by his sudden confession.
“Yes. I desired to be someone strong, kind, and honest, who sought no recompense for his actions, devoted wholeheartedly to saving the world—something akin to a hero. That is why I abandoned my House and came to Astaroth to join the guards: it would allow me to become a hero who protects the world.”
Having said that, Leobolt revealed a self-deprecating smile.
“However...I came to an impasse and lost it all. Having been ousted from the Guard Corps, there was nowhere left for me to go. I could no longer carry out my grand cause of protecting the world. I might as well have been dead,” he said. “That was when Rebirth contacted me. He told me that the world was wrong for rejecting me.”
“So that’s why you took him up on his offer,” I muttered.
“I will destroy the world that is wrong, and create a world that is right—and that very act will make me nothing less than a hero.”
“Your logic is faulty. The only world the Demon King will create is one filled with destruction and chaos, where might rules over all. Being complicit in that doesn’t make you a hero—it makes you a villain,” I said. “Leobolt, I know you have a coldhearted side that would use any means necessary to accomplish your goal. But I also know you’re not a bad guy at heart.”
“And what point are you trying to make?”
“I don’t believe you’re actually on the demons’ side.”
“How presumptuous,” Leobolt spat. “You think you know the first thing about me?”
“I can tell from our fight that your swordsmanship hasn’t changed at all—it never has since the entry exam. It’s just as strong and straightforward as ever.”
Even with his newfound dark powers, I hadn’t felt even a trace of impurity in his combat. On top of that, while I was fighting Leobolt, I had gotten the sense that something was a little off. Though he had done a great deal of damage to the capital, he hadn’t hurt any of its citizens. If he had wanted to use absolutely any means necessary to beat me, he would have gone after the people, forcing me to protect them. It might not have taken me out, but it certainly would’ve worn down my defenses.
But he hadn’t done that. Given how logical of a person he was, he had to have considered the option, but the fact that he hadn’t meant that he hadn’t lost his sense of pride.
“Tell me, Leobolt,” I asked, looking into his eyes, confident in my theory. “Did you have some other reason for giving in and joining the demons?”
For the briefest moment, his eyes widened, and I thought I caught a glimpse of discomfit.
“I told you already, Sieg, I have no other reasons. I want to be a hero—it’s as simple as that.” He returned my penetrating gaze as he added, “One who is strong, kind, and honest—who seeks no recompense for his actions, and is devoted wholeheartedly to saving the world. That has been my desire ever since I was a child.”
“I see...”
There was no trace of deceit in his eyes. But that also meant things didn’t add up.
Why would a human who wanted to protect the world betray his own kind and join the demons?
At that moment, a lone possibility popped into my mind.
He couldn’t have... There’s no way he would’ve gone that far.
Yet the more I thought about the kind of person Leobolt was, the less I was able to dismiss the idea outright. I couldn’t deny the possibility that he had gone that far.
“Sieg! Watch out!” a nearby civilian shouted.
I had been so lost in thought that I hadn’t reacted in time to my opponent closing in.
I gritted my teeth.
Damn.
In that instant, Leobolt brought his lightning-fast blade down upon me.