-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: A Real Man
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A short while later.
Lellia, having washed up and changed, paced in front of Romeo's door.
She was hesitating, wondering whether to knock or not.
“What are you doing there?”
She saw Romeo walking down the end of the hall. Behind him was Calix, with his characteristic swagger.
Lellia spotted the two and immediately ran toward them.
“Where have you two been? I’ve been looking for you….”
“Empress Marianne sent a lady-in-waiting. She said she had something to discuss with us.”
“…Her Majesty, the Empress? Why?”
“I don’t know. She called us over just to spout some nonsense.”
Lellia tilted her head in confusion, then shook it. That wasn’t what was important right now.
“Griffith… is in Sir Romeo’s room right now!”
“I heard. It seems he came this way after his audience with Emperor Perseus.”
One corner of Romeo’s mouth curled up as he threw open the door. Lellia followed him inside, with Calix right behind her.
However, Lellia quickly had to avert her gaze.
Griffith was sitting on the reception room sofa with his feet propped up on the table, and he was shirtless.
He was even drinking in that position.
Casually downing a gulp of what looked to be a potent liquor, he looked at Romeo and Calix.
“Took you longer than I thought.”
Romeo said as he sat down opposite Griffith. Calix sat down beside him.
Only Lellia stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
Calix then gestured toward the sofa diagonal to him, signaling for her to come and sit.
Since Calix’s favorability was the most important thing in the current situation, Lellia did as he said.
“……”
Still, it was uncomfortable to look in Griffith’s direction, so she only stole glances.
Why on earth was he shirtless?
His hair was still damp at the ends, as if he had just washed up.
It was a truly strange feeling to be confronted with the fact that her close childhood friends had become ‘adult men.’
It felt unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and nerve-wracking… just like this moment.
Meanwhile, the three men exchanged a few words. The topic was something Lellia couldn’t understand.
“Anyway, what’s with him? And why was he getting his ass kicked by the princes in that state?”
Just then, Griffith pointed at Lellia with the hand holding his glass and asked.
He seemed puzzled that Lellia, who had been wearing a dress when he left, was now dressed as a man in the Imperial Palace.
*Come to think of it, how did he recognize me? Is it that obvious?*
Lellia touched her cheek in bewilderment.
“Who was getting whose ass kicked?”
“His. By those two, Cedric and Damian.”
When Calix asked, Griffith kindly explained again.
“They were brawling.”
“What? A brawl?”
Calix scoffed in disbelief and looked at Lellia.
“Is it even possible to brawl with those tiny fists? Hey! Didn’t you just get beaten up? Your face looks fine, though.”
As Calix fumed, Griffith watched him with a strange expression before turning his gaze to Romeo.
His eyes demanded an explanation for what was going on.
Romeo shrugged.
“They said they’d treat him like a real brother. Since he’s ‘Leo’s’ younger brother.”
“…Younger brother? What nonsense is this?”
Griffith’s brow furrowed.
Lellia had clearly said she was Leo’s close cousin, a ‘younger sister.’
So where did a younger brother come from?
Meanwhile, Calix grabbed Lellia’s chin and turned her cheeks left and right, checking for bruises.
“No injuries? Hey, do you even know how to make a proper fist? How did you end up brawling with those bastards anyway? You’ve got some guts, huh? Not bad, kid.”
Seemingly relieved after confirming she wasn't hurt, Calix clapped Lellia on the back and chuckled.
He appeared to be proud of her.
Griffith watched this with a look of disdain before speaking.
“He was fighting Cedric and Damian, two against one. He was getting pummeled, so I healed him and beat them up for him.”
“What?”
At those words, Calix shot up from his seat.
“Are they insane? The cowards! Where are those bastards now! How dare they hit my brother?”
“They were carried off after I was done with them.”
The somewhat childish conversation seemed to ease Lellia’s tension a bit.
Griffith, too, had seemed unfamiliar, having grown so much, but seeing him talk like this, she could see traces of his old self.
Calix was still fuming, despite Griffith's words. Romeo pulled his arm to make him sit down again.
“You healed them, of course?”
Romeo asked, narrowing his eyes. It was a clear signal not to cause as much trouble as possible.
Griffith nodded as if it were obvious, but his expression was annoyed.
Watching the three of them and their evident closeness, Lellia felt a pang of envy.
*‘If I had an ability and could have joined the Mad Dragon subjugation team with my friends, we would have been as close and friendly as they are now.’*
At the same time, memories of her childhood surfaced, making her heart flutter.
Griffith asked.
“Anyway, what’s this nonsense about a younger brother? I heard he entered the palace as Romeo’s male cousin, are you just playing along with that?”
It seemed he had heard a rough version of the situation.
*So that’s how he recognized me.* Lellia nodded to herself.
At those words, Calix, who had been fuming just a moment ago, immediately changed his expression and spoke up.
He looked absolutely delighted.
“I saw it! He’s a real man!”
“……!”
Lellia’s eyes widened in shock.
At that, Griffith’s eyebrow twitched.
The girl who was a girl until just a while ago was suddenly a man? A real man?
Griffith’s gaze, which had turned instantly cold, fell on Lellia. His eyes were filled with suspicion and disbelief.
Lellia was too stunned to even offer an excuse, just stammering.
Regardless, Calix excitedly held out his own forearm.
Lellia blinked.
What on earth was he trying to say by showing his forearm?
“I saw… his. It’s about this big? A bit like mine. A man among men.”
At Calix’s words, Griffith frowned as if disgusted by his vulgarity.
Lellia was dumbfounded.
What Calix was talking about was probably… that… *that thing*. It was absurd.
Not only did she not have such a thing, but for it to be the size of Calix’s forearm? Wasn’t that impossible in the first place?
*Has Calix lost his mind?* Lellia blinked, then had a flash of insight.
The potion she used on Emperor Perseus!
“Did you perhaps secretly watch when I had my audience with His Majesty?”
“Huh? Yeah. The archway wasn’t closed. I was curious what you were talking about.”
“……”
Lellia’s world went dark.
*Wait, does that mean….*
*‘The illusion Emperor Perseus saw wasn’t the same, was it?’*
The potion created an illusion to deceive the target.
If the Emperor saw the same illusion Calix did…
*‘It means I openly dropped my pants in front of the Emperor to prove I wasn't a woman….’*
Remembering the pale look on Emperor Perseus’s face made her head spin.
Calix was already patting Lellia on the back again.
“I get it. It happens. You must have gone through a lot, huh? But you… did that thing just suddenly appear, or were you a boy from the start and your mother hid it?”
Calix floated the hypothesis he had imagined, testing the waters with Lellia.
Lellia was confused for a moment, not understanding, but then it clicked.
*‘…Should I tell the truth now?’*
But if Romeo or Griffith found out about such a potion and that she had used it, they would immediately become suspicious.
This was on a completely different level from changing her hair and eye color.
And she couldn’t explain the truth, that it was a game item….
In the end, Lellia chose to nod.
She could just explain it along with everything else when she cleared up the misunderstanding after breaking the geas.
For now, she just had to get through this situation.
“…Th-the latter.”
The former option seemed a bit too… much.
At her words, Calix let out a short, rough curse.
“Damn… you son of a… that’s incredible. So you’ve been living with that thing, wearing dresses and pretending to be a girl all this time? How uncomfortable must that have been? A thing that size would be pretty inconvenient. Or was it actually more comfortable? Since skirts are so full?”
Calix muttered on to himself. He then patted the back of Lellia’s head, telling her she’d been through a lot.
His touch was so rough she couldn’t tell if he was hitting her or patting her….
Unlike Calix, Griffith remained expressionless.
Lellia glanced at Griffith before speaking.
“Um… thank you for your help earlier.”
“…Whatever.”
The reply was curt, but Lellia stubbornly tried to ask what she had been curious about.
Namely, how he knew she was in the princes’ palace.
But before Lellia could ask, Romeo spoke up.
“Anyway, how did you know he was there and go find him?”
“…I took a wrong turn.”
Griffith answered calmly. Romeo snorted as if he had expected as much.
“What about the attendants?”
“They offered to guide me, but I refused.”
Come to think of it, Griffith had always been a bit bad with directions, even when they were young. Lellia barely suppressed a chuckle.
“What about the temple business? Did you resolve it?”
When Romeo asked again, Griffith nodded and pushed himself up.
Lellia glanced at Griffith as he walked toward the inner room. And she was horrified.
Griffith’s broad back was so packed with muscle it momentarily made her gasp in surprise.
But that wasn’t the reason for her horror.
A strange tattoo was etched onto Griffith’s back.
*‘He’s not some pirate, why does he have a tattoo like that…?’*
Startled, she looked at Romeo and Calix. Calix said, “Ah,” then explained.
“That guy got a huge scar on his back in a battle. He got the tattoo to cover it up. There was a guy in the subjugation team who knew how to tattoo.”
“…Ah.”
Lellia tilted her head, nonplussed.
Griffith and a tattoo. And a fearsome-looking one at that, the kind a pirate would have.
It felt completely at odds with him and his holy power.
To be honest, Griffith had always had a proper and exemplary image, even as a child.
His brown hair was always neat, his voice and expression calm. He even had a sort of holy aura about him, perhaps because of his divine power.
But the Griffith she met again as an adult was a little different.
His expert brawling skills, the hard liquor, the tattoo.
It felt like watching a devout priest turn into a thug.
As she stood there, bewildered by the unfamiliar feeling, Griffith walked out of the room holding something.
*‘He should put on a shirt….’*
He was still shirtless. She wanted to nag him but held her tongue, lowering her gaze.
She had already pretended to be a man with something the size of Calix’s forearm… she had lost any right to act shy.
Griffith approached the table, placed something down with a thud, and sat down again.
“Gasp!”
Lellia saw what he had put on the table and clapped a hand over her mouth in shock.
“Hey, you know what this is?”
Calix asked, surprised by Lellia’s reaction.
“…N-no. I was just startled.”
“Ah! Surprised because it’s a sword? Why are you so easily scared for a boy? Not like Leo.”
Calix playfully smacked Lellia on the back.
“……”
She would probably have a bruise on her back tomorrow.
But that wasn’t what mattered right now.
The thing Griffith had casually tossed onto the table was definitely…
*‘It’s definitely the Holy Sword of Creutz.’*
The scabbard, decorated in white and gold, exuded a holy aura even at a glance.
Even someone who knew nothing about swords would be able to tell that it was a magnificent, ancient treasure.
When Lellia had learned various things from her grandfather, she had also studied matters related to the temple.
That was how she recognized the holy sword she had seen in book illustrations.
*‘Of course, thanks to the original novel, I knew Griffith would become the master of the Holy Sword….’*
The Holy Sword of Creutz was one of the temple’s greatest treasures.
It was the sword of the first Holy Emperor, who received the will of the main god, Herna, and legend said it could only be drawn by someone with enough holy power to surpass him.
And among all the Holy Emperors in history, none had ever drawn that sword.
Lellia looked at Griffith with sparkling eyes.
She was so proud of her friend for accomplishing such an incredible feat.
But Griffith’s expression was indifferent.
“This is a fake.”
“As expected.”
Romeo said, as if he knew it all along.
As Lellia blinked in confusion, Romeo kindly explained.
“The temple wants to make this guy the next Holy Emperor. So they openly gave him a fake holy sword and started spreading rumors everywhere that the next master of the sword has appeared. It’s to force him into the position.”
At Romeo’s words, Griffith challenged him with a defiant posture.
“Do you have to explain all that to him?”
“…Calix says he’s his real brother from now on.”
Lellia’s lips twitched. She wanted to press for more details right away, but she couldn’t.
*‘It seems Griffith doesn’t like me.’*
He was radiating that feeling so openly that she couldn’t ignore it.
*‘Then why did he save me earlier? Because he thought I was Leo’s little sister?’*
Was it fine when he thought she was a sister, but he suddenly dislikes her now that he thinks she’s a brother?
While Lellia’s mind was racing, the three men began to discuss matters concerning the temple.
After the Mad Dragon subjugation ended, the temple had been laying the groundwork to exert its influence over each empire.
Lellia remained silent, just listening quietly.
Then, the final topic of conversation turned to ‘Oscar.’
“By the way, when is Oscar coming?”
“Right. We haven’t heard from him.”
Romeo said worriedly that he hadn’t been able to contact him for some time, which was strange.
At those words, a shadow of concern fell over Lellia’s face as well.
*‘No contact from Oscar.’*
In Lellia’s mind, Oscar was still the pitiful little boy who was afraid of rainy days.
Although the last time she saw him… he was terrifying.
She had never imagined the cute and pretty Oscar would change so much.
Of course, he was still astonishingly beautiful. The problem was that he was terrifyingly cold.
Then again, he had likely continued to suffer abuse from the Emperor even after returning to his home country, so it was inevitable.
Thinking of Oscar made her heart ache.
*‘Still, now that Griffith is here, Oscar should be here soon too.’*
Once Oscar arrived, it would mean another farewell for a while. A corner of her heart already felt empty.
*‘I have to handle things in my domain and then come back to see them.’*
Lellia made a promise to herself.
However, her reunion with Oscar came much sooner than she thought. And in a completely unexpected way.
