Chapter 31 The Commander, Wishes

The Commander, Wishes

“…What?!”

“Gideon-sama! Have you come to your senses?!”

I opened my eyes to find Sam, my second-in-command, standing in front of me.

“…I… What happened to me…?”

Shaking my head, I tried to sit up, but my body felt heavy.

I had the unsettling feeling that something terrible had happened, but my mind was blank.

Looking around, I saw my soldiers tending to the wounded.

Where am I…?

We came here to defeat something, didn’t we…?

Hmm?

…Wait, I remember!

That’s right!

We’d been caught in a goblin trap. Just as the battle began turning against us, I heard a deafening noise…!

My instinct to panic kicked in.

“Gideon-sama! Breathe! Take a deep breath!”

Sam spoke calmly, holding me steady.

Suuhaa…

“Okay! Alright! What’s the damage?!”

I slapped my face and forced myself to focus on the situation.

“Ah! Fortunately, there are almost no casualties! The goblins are in disarray, and we’ve taken down most of them!”

A wave of relief washed over me.

“I don’t know what happened, but that’s good… Sam, do you know anything?”

Sam scratched his cheek awkwardly before responding.

“To be honest, I don’t have much confirmed information. We’re still investigating, but I think something fell from the sky… Also, there seems to be some kind of conflict beyond that hole.”

“Conflict…?”

I frowned instinctively.

“Over there.”

Sam pointed, but I couldn’t see anything happening right now.

“There were flashes of light earlier, like magic being used.”

Magic…?

I gasped.

Could the clan members, including Sieg, be over there?!

Something’s definitely happening there.

“Sam! Take care of things here! I’m going to check what’s going on over there! I need to know what happened to Sieg!”

Without waiting for an answer, I sprinted off alone.

“Wait, Gideon-sama! At least take someone with you….”

Sam’s voice called after me, but I didn’t have time to stop.

Is Sieg alright?

If he is, what’s he fighting?

Could it be the Demon Lord Goblin King…?

My thoughts turned dark and filled with dread.

Hang on, Sieg, I’ll do something!

I ripped off my cumbersome helmet and ran faster.

Breathless, I arrived, only to be confronted by an utterly bizarre sight.

A woman in a maid outfit was cradling someone’s head in her lap.

Nearby, someone had collapsed, and the clan members who brought them were standing at a distance, watching.

What is this?

What in the world is going on?

No one seemed to notice me, so I approached one of the clan members and called out.

I hesitated to speak directly to the woman just yet.

“Hey, Gomez! What’s going on here?!”

I spoke quietly, not wanting to draw too much attention.

“Eh?! Gi-Gideon-sama! Are you alright?!”

Gomez jumped in surprise and quickly responded.

“Well, I’m not sure. Somehow, things turned out okay. But… what’s up with that strange woman?”

I pointed toward the woman in the maid outfit.

“That’s Arisu. Sensei brought her with him.”

Gomez scratched his head in confusion.

“…What?! So that person being cradled in her lap is Veiss-sensei?!”

I froze in shock. I hadn’t expected to hear that name.

Wait, did Sensei bring yet another weird woman with him?

“And the one who collapsed is Boss Sieg.”

“Sieg?! So, the injuries from earlier—he’s alright, right?!”

“Well… he’s alive.”

That answer wasn’t very reassuring.

What does “alive” even mean in this case?

I’d been receiving bits and pieces of information, but nothing was adding up.

“Why aren’t you helping him?!”

“It’s hard to explain, but Boss attacked Sensei and got defeated…”

“What?!”

“I don’t know… He said something about a Demon Lord, but I didn’t really understand…”

Gomez clearly had no idea what was going on either.

“Then why is Veiss-sensei asleep?”

I pointed at the man who appeared to be Sensei and asked again.

“Arisu says he’s exhausted from using magic, and he overate.”

Overate…?

I blinked, completely baffled.

I didn’t understand anything.

“After Boss lost, he started suffering, and then two Demon Lords appeared.”

More confusing information.

“…Demon Lord Goblin King?”

“No, they are different…”

…I still don’t get it!

“I thought things were going downhill, but then Sensei did something, and the Demon Lords vanished. After that, they both collapsed. And that’s where we are now…”

The more I heard, the less sense it made.

I had no choice but to accept it.

For now, I needed to focus on Sieg. He’d done something, but leaving him like this would be cruel.

I approached the strange woman cautiously, not wanting to provoke her.

Her presence exuded danger.

She didn’t seem to notice me; her attention was focused elsewhere.

Relieved, I gently lifted Sieg and checked his face.

“What!? S-Sieg?!”

It was definitely Sieg, but his face had aged drastically!

The man, barely in his twenties, now had wrinkles!

He was still breathing, but his breaths were shallow, as if each one could be his last.

“Ah, it’s the result of overusing his power. He’ll die of old age soon.”

The woman, still stroking Sensei’s head, spoke casually.

“O-Overusing…? Die… W-What…?”

My mind was spinning.

My vision blurred.

My little brother, Sieg, is going to… die?

Is he really going to die in such an incomprehensible way…?

I’ve already lost people like Jean and Gisself, but now my little brother Sieg is going to lose his life too…?

“Is there… any way to save him?”

In a daze, I turned to the woman, desperate for any answer.

“He chose to pay the price himself. There’s nothing we can do about it… It would be uncouth to reverse it.”

She answered coldly.

The price… Sieg must have done something desperate to make such a choice…

The price…the price…

In other words, his life force or vitality was the price.

I looked up and asked again.

“Can I pay part of the price?”

The woman’s eyes widened.

“You—are you perhaps a disciple of my Danna-sama?”

She narrowed her eyes, studying me.

“Veiss-sensei? Yes, both he and I are his disciples.”

Hearing that, the woman chuckled.

“So kindness is contagious, huh? I couldn’t care less, but I’m impressed by your determination. Fine, since you’re a disciple of my Danna-sama, I’ll make an exception. Bring that man here.”

Her tone softened just slightly.

I carried Sieg and brought him closer.

As I got nearer, I noticed her beauty more sharply.

Her skin was flawless and pale, her silver hair gleaming brightly.

Everything about her looked almost artificial.

Her beauty was unsettling.

It was fine to admire her from a distance, but I didn’t want to get too close.

She seemed to sense my unease and chuckled.

You’ve really gotten involved with someone dangerous this time, Sensei…

Cold sweat prickled my neck.

“Let me confirm one last time: you’re willing to take on part of the price for this man’s life, yes?”

Her long, delicate fingers pointed at me.

Her nails were an ominous red.

She may have been dressed as a maid, but those were no ordinary hands.

Everything about her felt out of place, unnatural.

“Yeah, I don’t mind. But not all of it.”

I shrugged and replied.

The woman chuckled softly, her voice dripping with amusement.

“Well, of course, if you took on the full price, you’d die yourself. Let’s see… how about ten years instead?”

I didn’t bother asking for clarification.

I nodded quietly.

“Honestly, you’re such a soft-hearted fool. No wonder Danna-sama cares about you. You two are so alike.”

She said it with a mix of astonishment and amusement.

Well, after seeing him, anyone would become like that, to some extent.

And I had my own reasons for everything.

Not all of my actions were driven by pure goodwill.

“Just so you know, though, this doesn’t mean the man will get ten more years of life.”

I nodded again.

There’s no such thing as a perfect bargain.

“Sigh… If you were so determined to go this far, why didn’t you try to stop him before? If you had, none of this suffering would be happening. But then again, if that had happened, I never would’ve met Danna-sama. So, I’ll give you credit for that.”

A pang of guilt twisted inside me.

But then, isn’t that how it always is? We regret the things we could’ve done differently.

“Give him time to regret it, at least.”

It would be too cruel to deny him that chance.

“Well, regret comes after the fact. That’s just how it works.”

Arisu gathered magic in her fingers and snapped them with precision.

A silvery glow scattered in the air.

“The Demon Lord Skill: Life Transfer [Transplantation] activated.”

“What!?”

My body felt heavy, as though my very strength was being drained away.

Vitality was being siphoned from me.

At the same time, Sieg’s complexion improved, and his breathing steadied.

He looked… a little younger.

Still aged, but definitely younger.

I felt a rush of relief.

Truly, a deep sense of relief.

I knew I was partly responsible for the mess Sieg’s life had become.

It didn’t matter that it had been Father’s order.

I had been complicit in the plot that had cost his comrades their lives.

The guilt had gnawed at me constantly.

I knew it was a form of self-indulgence, trying to justify my actions.

But the words I had learned from Sensei rang in my mind.

“Be the kind of person you can be proud of because that will always become your strength in the end.”

Yes, it wasn’t about atonement.

It was about my pride.

About being true to who I am.

Ten years? That was nothing in comparison to that.

“Alright, with this, he won’t die right away.”

Arisu gently stroked Veiss-sensei’s head again.

“…Thank you, Arisu.”

I bowed my head in quiet gratitude.

Although I, as a noble, was supposed to take pride in my position, I felt none of that toward this woman.

She exuded an undeniable authority, the kind that commanded without effort.

I found myself wondering—who exactly was this woman?

As though reading my thoughts, she answered with a smile.

“I’m nothing special. Oh, and don’t go telling anyone about this, okay?”

She placed a finger to her lips, her smile playful.

Her red lips curved into a sly, knowing smile.

Arisu, the woman with the red eyes, spoke in a light, almost carefree tone.

“If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.”