Chapter 107: Remnants Part 2

The Robinhood family was reclusive.

That stemmed from the path they chose to grow their power.

“Our family survived by selling out fellow nobles to the Emperor. We secured our safety by reporting their crimes.”

“If they were guilty, then they deserved to die.”

“Perhaps. But it might not have warranted the destruction of their families. You know what the Emperor is like.”

The current Emperor was a mad monster who lived for over a hundred years.

With his military might, authority, and wealth combined, the Emperor’s power was simply overwhelming.

“Anyway, that was just to say how our family grew.”

Nothing particularly surprising.

Groups like that have always existed, no matter what the era was.

“So, our family served as informants for the imperial family…digging up secrets, investigating people, and even carrying out assassinations. I never really had a problem with that life.”

“And meeting Emily made you start regretting it?”

“No, I still have no complaints. Nothing to regret.”

“You’re shameless, huh.”

How could someone who’s killed since childhood say that so casually?

Does he not feel guilt?

“What can I say? I’ve come too far to start regretting things now. If I had gone mad over it, I wouldn’t be here, confiding in you.”

“Fair enough. A little shamelessness is probably good for your sanity.”

I’ll admit it.

To stay sane, you have to live that way.

The Robinhood family only dealt with the Empire’s enemies to survive, so it was hard to blame them outright.

“One day, that shameless me met Emily.”

“Sounds like destiny.”

I gave him a token response.

By this point, there was no way I was getting out of this conversation without hearing the whole story.

I wasn’t really sure what I could say, but for Stan, this must’ve been a serious concern in his own way.

“She was curious by nature and always wandered around energetically.”

“Energetically…?”

Was the Emily he was talking about different from the Emily I knew?

Or had Stan been such an extreme shut-in that even she seemed energetic to him?

If it wasn’t either of those, there was no way he could describe Emily as energetic.

“Well, it’s just that her curiosity eventually grew stronger than her energy.”

“I see.”

“Her curiosity became so overwhelming that, at some point, she turned into a deus ex machina.”

“…So there was a clear cause and effect.”

Well, it’s true that no one can be exceptional in every way.

Emily sacrificed her energy for the sake of her curiosity.

Let’s just think of it that way.

“Still, I and everyone in our family were determined to give Emily our best. We let her do what she wanted and bought her whatever she desired.”

“And then?”

“But when we came to our senses, we realized Emily wasn’t smiling anymore.”

“Hmm…”

“What was missing? What did we do wrong? We couldn’t figure it out. That’s why I’m asking you. Since you’re one of the rare people Emily showed interest in, I thought you might know something.”

“I see. Got it, loud and clear.”

To sum it up in one word? Ridiculous.

“First, let me ask you something. Emily came to your family when she was very young, didn’t she?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then the answer’s obvious. It’s your fault. It was all you.”

“…….”

“Who do you think a child learns from? If everyone around her walked around with grim faces, of course she’d end up the same. You should’ve smiled more.”

It wasn’t a complicated issue.

There’s a saying. “He who stays near ink gets stained black”. If all she had around her were strict, solemn, and serious people, then naturally her expression would stiffen too.

Children learn by watching the people around them.

“You should’ve started by communicating, instead of just pouring out one-sided affection.”

“Could it really be something that simple?”

“It really is that simple. I mean, is there a reason to make it so dramatic?”

Well, sure, you could call it a concern.

He probably didn’t have anyone around to tell him something like this.

But it was such a straightforward issue.

Honestly, didn’t I just pull off a solid intervention here?

“…Even if we were the ones who killed her parents?”

“Wait. Don’t say another word.”

No. That was a line that shouldn’t be crossed.

That was the kind of story I really didn’t want to hear.

“I don’t want to hear about the dark secrets of your family.”

Nor did I want to be involved in them.

“Emily is a smart girl, so maybe she figured it out long ago.”

But Stan ignored my opinion completely and just kept talking.

Why was it that everyone around me only ever seemed to have a strong personal agenda?

“I told you earlier, didn’t I? Our family survived by informing on other noble houses.”

“…….”

“It was the same for Emily. Following an imperial order, we leaked information, and as a result, the family she belonged to was destroyed.”

I hadn’t expected a story like that.

“Our family didn’t expect things to turn out that way either. We never thought such a small offense would be exaggerated to that extent.”

“Exaggerated?”

“It was embezzlement. And not even a big case…just three gold coins.”

Three gold coins.

Not exactly pocket change, but also not enough to warrant the destruction of an entire noble house.

Unless, as Stan said, the crime had been blown out of proportion.

“One of our employees had a family emergency. To help resolve it, someone lent him the money. That’s what started it all.”

“That counts as embezzlement?”

“Ridiculous, right? The situation was urgent, so he just handed over some gold from the drawer. That was it. He meant to replace it, but in the chaos, he forgot. And that’s how it spiraled.”

“And the employee who borrowed the money?”

“By the time he returned with the money in hand, ready to repay, it was already too late. And the moment he came back…”

“To make the crime stick, they probably made him disappear without a trace.”

“Hmm…”

Stan who had been speaking with a tone of bitter irony now stared at me intently.

“How do you know that so well?”

“What, you little—? Don’t look at me like that. I just understood it all at once because I’m smart, that’s all.”

“For someone smart, you were in Class F…”

“Shut up and stick to the point. Are you going to keep going off-topic?”

Did he forget that I was the one listening to all this out of sheer patience?

If he kept that attitude up, I might just walk away.

“Well, there’s not much more to say. That’s how an old, prestigious house vanished into the shadows of history. And we felt responsible for it, so we decided to at least smuggle Emily out in secret. Oh, and one more thing… it’s also the reason our family now supports Princess Lobelia.”

“You thought Lobelia wouldn’t repeat the past?”

“No, it was more because the person we bet on before betrayed us.”

“Huh?”

“It was the Second Prince Loki who exaggerated the charges against that house.”

So that’s how it all connected?

That part didn’t really come up in the game, as far as I remember.

I remember that the events with the imperial family were all related to the main character, Lobelia.

Unless there was some hidden lore I didn’t know about. I wasn’t exactly a devoted player…

“So sometimes, I get scared. If Emily knows the truth and hates us because of it…”

So he does feel regret after all?

Stan claimed he didn’t regret the past, but from everything he’s said so far, that doesn’t seem to be true.

He’s just rationalizing it to himself. Deep down, he’s clearly burdened with guilt and remorse.

“How can we ever make it up to Emily?”

“Hmm…”

Now I think I understand why Stan was so overprotective of Emily.

I thought it was just because he cared for his family, but it turns out he has a pretty good reason.

Is this what it means to be part of the main character’s party?

To think that in this situation, the first thing that comes to mind is “atonement”.

“All right, I guess I’ll be generous for once.”

I didn’t know whether Emily was aware of the Robinhood family’s secret.

Nor did I know the full extent of the wrongs they committed or what really happened behind the scenes.

But there was one thing I did know.

“Let’s say the Oracle told me. In the future I saw, you two were always a happy family.”

“…You’re not the Oracle.”

“But you admit I know part of the future, don’t you?”

“….…”

“That’s the whole reason you came to me in the first place, isn’t it? So I’ll tell you.

In the future I saw, you always fought for Emily. And she fought to protect you in return.”

It’s human nature to fear things that haven’t happened yet.

But I know for certain. This one won’t.

“Well? Feel any better?”

“I hate to admit it, but…”

Stan frowned, then downed his coffee in one go before speaking.

“It is a bit of a comfort.”

“Then what’s with the face?”

“I just hate the fact that I’m grateful to you.”

“Man, you’re really consistent, aren’t you?”

***

After that, I parted ways with Stan Robinhood without much more conversation.

Wait a second…this bastard really brushed off all those kind words I gave him with just a single cup of coffee?

He was dead. Next time I visited their mansion, I was going to ask Emily out on a date right in front of him.

Let him watch the person he hated the most do the thing he hated the most.

It was while I was chewing over that petty malice that I arrived at the alchemy workshop.

“Hmm? You’re here today.”

“It was you?!”

“Why are you shouting all of a sudden, Professor Georg?”

“Did you mess with the materials in the back?”

“Yes, were there some I wasn’t supposed to use? If so, you should’ve at least put a sign up.”

Anyway, it didn’t seem like it was my fault?

“No, not exactly. It’s just…. we thought you’d gone back to your hometown, and when we noticed the materials were missing, we figured a thief might’ve broken in.”

“Aha, you were worried someone would scold you for poor inventory management.”

“That’s right. But now I see you were the one who used them. Just write a report on it later.”

“Oh come on, if you were that worried, why not just file a fake report?”

“That part doesn’t really matter.”

“It doesn’t, huh?”

Maybe it was because I’d just come from hearing a story where a noble house collapsed over three gold coins, but Professor Georg’s words sounded dangerously careless to me.

“I was worried because if someone really had broken in, this might not have been the end of it.”

“And you’re only thinking about that now? It’s not like the security was ever that great.”

“Guess you didn’t hear? Half the faculty and students were replaced recently.”

“What? Why?”

As far as I knew, there hadn’t been another attack since the last one.

Had someone gotten assassinated while wandering outside the Cradle? But they weren’t exactly people who’d go down so easily…

“The Headmistress personally cleaned house inside the Cradle. That’s how all the traitors and spies got swept out.”

“So you were scared you might get caught up in it. Wow, and here I thought you were braver than that.”

“It was an imperial decree.”

“…Maybe it’s time we upgraded the locks.”

“Already placed the order.”

If it was an imperial decree, that changed everything.

You really could get swept away over something trivial.

“For now, be careful. If you go burning through materials like usual and catch the wrong person’s eye, you’re done for.”

“Don’t worry. As long as I get results, that’s all that matters, isn’t it?”

“You idiot, you didn’t understand a single word I said.”

Sure, what I said might’ve sounded like baseless confidence…but that wasn’t it at all.

“Just take a look at this first. I’ve finally figured out how to synthesize the Heart of the Phoenix and the Blood of the Frost Giant.”

“What? How did you figure that out? No, wait…if that’s true, this is not the time for chit-chat. Johan, hurry and get started on the paperwork.”

Professor Georg frantically pulled out a sheet of paper from inside his coat and handed it to me.

Was it a results report?

Well, with something like that, even if we had blown through the budget like water, they might be willing to overlook it.

“…Wait, this is a university application form.”

“Oh!”

I drew my sword.

He’d been acting unusually calm lately. Looks like he’s finally gone crazy again.

Had he already forgotten Lobelia’s warning?

Well, I guess expecting reason from a madman was the real mistake.

“Haha! Be a good boy and sign the papers, Johan Damus!”

Professor Georg pulled a suspicious syringe filled with some unknown drug from his pocket.

So, what kind of substance is he trying to inject me with this time?

Well, someone like Professor Georg is someone I can definitely handle myself.

He was one of the weakest among the Cradle’s faculty—

And he wasn’t even a combat specialist, so beating him was only natural.

The last time I lost, it was purely because of the drug.

But this time, things were different.

The workshop door was open, and there weren’t any strange chemicals being dispersed into the air like before.

“I’m not the same person I used to be.”

There’s no reason I should lose.

“I know. You’re a talent now. A talent our workshop needs. Jabir!”

“Yes, Professor.”

“He’ll be your junior soon. Restrain him so he doesn’t move.”

“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”

Senior Jabir stood behind him like a shadow of Professor Georg.

The morning star in his hand gleamed more ominously than usual.

“…Wait a second.”

If Senior Jabir was getting involved, this just became a completely different situation…