War.
When the crux of the matter came out of Osian's mouth, Princess Orlea asked in disbelief.
"Do you mean to tell me you knew all along?"
Osian let out a blood-curdling laugh.
"Of course not. If I did, I wouldn't have gotten involved in this. I just inferred it from what happened earlier. Judging by your reaction, I was right."
"......!"
Princess Orlea realized her mistake, but it was too late.
Now that it had come to this, she decided to brazen it out.
"Alright. Knowing that you're well aware makes this conversation easier. Do you realize how absurd your actions have been? You've gotten involved in a scheme far beyond what any individual can handle."
At this reprimanding tone, Osian stared at princess Orlea in disbelief.‘I expected to hear her thank me for saving her life, but instead she scolded me.’
I could tell by the way Princess Orlea's eyes were shaking as she questioned me that she was upset.
She knew the course of all these events.
She hates that she will die, that she cannot avoid it, but she has accepted it.
However the result changed.
Rather than joy, there will be bewilderment and anxiety, because she has let go of everything.
Still, Osian couldn't help but say this.
"That's quite rude to the man who saved your life."
"Rude? How dare you be rude to me, royalty......?"
"Have you forgotten, this is Tirna. Royalty or commoner, rudeness is rudeness."
"......."
It was a point that could have been made in anger but to Osian's surprise, princess Orlea didn't get angry, instead looked at him with a calmer face.
"Your actions in saving my life in the heat of the moment are certainly commendable."
"You're suddenly being honest."
"But it was too short-sighted. Just because you saved my life now doesn't mean the people who want my life will give up. I may have escaped their grasp, but I will be surrounded again. They'll keep coming, until I'm dead, and then you'll be caught in the crossfire. No, you already are."
-Hmph.
Osian looked at princess Orlea in disbelief.
I thought she was just a powerless puppet who had accepted death, but she's more intelligent than I thought.
No. That's why she accepted death.
Her death would be a great benefit to the Carleon Kingdom but no matter what, Osian foiled their primary plan.
That's right.
That's the first round.
I don't know how many more there are, but this is just a time to catch our breath.
The underlying situation itself is far from over.
"Are you going to stay put?"
"What?"
"If you stay put, they'll catch up to you."
"What did you say?"
"You heard me right. Tirna's military and your state are working together to pick a scapegoat and start a war, and that you're caught in the middle of it."
The purpose of the war was obvious: expanding armaments and the size of the military.
The military's pride had been bruised by the theft of Tesla Arms by the Blood Brotherhood.
They would want to make up for their mistake and increase their influence in the city.
'They can't undo what's already happened, so they're going to try something new to increase their influence.’
When does a country's military have the most power and the biggest say?
In times of war.
If Princess Orlea were to die in Tirna, the Kingdom of Carleon would blame Tirna, not anyone else.
The death of a princess, and no one else's, would spark a war.
Naturally, Tirna would not stand idly by, they would have to fight back, and that was the role of the military.
"Knowing that......."
"Does it matter?"
Osian asked.
The brazenness of the question left princess Orlea speechless.
"Besides, it's too late to regret the past, now is the time to worry about the future."
"You, no, Your Grace......."
Princess Orlea asked, her voice trembling.
Even her references to Osian had been replaced with the honorific, Your Grace.
"Who are you, and what nobility do you come from?"
"Just a wandering knight, a free fixer."
"That can't be......."
Orlea opened her mouth to argue but shut it.
For Osian to speak like that, there must be something in his past he wishes to hide and it wasn't polite to pry.
She was royalty, but unlike other royalty, she didn't arrogantly look down on others.
On the contrary, she had seen enough arrogant royals to despise such behavior.
"You would do well to flee now. Your life is not guaranteed if you stay with me."
"Are you actually worried about my life right now?"
"I am their target, after all. If you leave me here, they won't come after you. If I die, it's all over."
Orlea muttered, her head bowed low while Osian looked at her, then opened his mouth.
"I'm afraid that won't work."
Orlea lifted her head and stared into Osian's face.
What a sculpted man, she thought, as she had realized when she first saw him at the airship station.
With that fluid face, the decadent eyes that seemed to have grown weary of everything, the painstakingly chiseled nose and jawline he looks like he was plucked directly from a masterpiece by a renowned painter.
If he hadn't been standing in a crowd of fixers, Orlea would have thought Osian was royalty somewhere.
"They're already after you."
As it muttered that, Osian's gaze was drawn to the corner of the alleyway.
Before Orlea could ask what was going on, the sound of heavy footsteps brought a group of men into view.
"There she is!"
They spotted Orlea and pointed their guns at her but someone else reacted first.
It was Osian.
He'd seen them coming around the corner, drawn his sword, and charged at them.
In that brief moment when they spotted her, they raised their weapons.
Osian ducked low, closing in on the blind spot, and his sword sliced through the space.
The guns were cut off and blood spattered across the dark alley.
He didn't think to spare any of them.
Each of them had a beacon, and at the slightest opening, they would call for reinforcements.
It took less than five seconds for about 10 people to be killed.
The fight had been so swift that Princess Orlea realized only in hindsight that she had nearly died again.
Osian, with his sword drawn, approached her.
"They’re so quick to shoot without even checking to see who they're up against. Apparently this neighborhood is full of people who want to kill you."
"Well, then......."
"Let's go."
"Where do you mean?"
"I don't know where, but it will be safer than staying here."
Orlea didn't understand Osian's words.
"You mean you will protect me?"
"Why do you ask?"
Osian shrugged, as if the question was obvious.
"I was commissioned as a fixer. The request was for your escort, so it's only natural that I fulfill it."
"That's......."
......Natural?
She heard about fixers, but didn't know much about what they actually do and how the industry works.
What she does know is that they're not the kind of high-minded, high-conviction people who would risk their lives to fulfill a request.
Osian is more than a fixer.
He's more like something out of an old tale.......
"A......knight?"
"Hmm. You must have good taste for royalty."
At the mention of knight, Osian's tone of voice rose higher than before.
From the faint smile on his lips, it was clear that he was in quite a good mood.
"Of course, I'm helping you out for a favor but there's another reason, too. My broker has a connection to this so I'm trying to help."
"Personal reasons?"
"Isn’t that enough?"
"......."
"And I couldn't stand seeing the perpetrators of this incident succeed with their schemes. In war, it's the innocent who die under the plans made by rulers. More than half of them would likely be citizens of your country."
Orlea could not deny Osian's words.
If war came, the armies of Tirna and the Kingdom of Carleon would fight a stalemate of trench warfare.
People would be deliberately torn to pieces.
The longer the war lasts, the greater the financial gain to themselves, and the more people would die.
"You should not die here, if you care about the people's safety."
You shouldn't die.
It was so obvious, but Orlea wanted to scoff at the words.
She hadn't come all the way to this place to die.
She was royalty, but she had already lost the battle for succession.
Her siblings wanted to use her as a spark for war, not to send her off to a nobleman in another country.
Orlea was intelligent enough to understand her predicament.
Her country had made some sort of deal with Tirna's military and her siblings, who were wary of her, wanted to nip her in the bud.
She hated it, but she thought it was for the good of her country, and she agreed to take the noble position but it wasn't until Osian spoke that she realized something she'd forgotten.
This job doesn't end with her death.
Death is only the beginning.
How many people would die in a war?
How many innocent citizens would be conscripted and dragged into battle?
The war to come, will it ever end?
"I see you've finally realized."
"I'm just......."
"If you're really royalty, you should look the part. Don't lie and say you're ready to die. That's running away."
Osian had spoken the brutal truth that Orlea had tried so hard to ignore.
Princess Orlea squeezed her eyes shut.
Yes, she was running away.
From the life of a royal family that welcomed no one.
From a murderous political game where everyone wanted her dead.
From the arrows of popular sentiment turned vicious by the tyranny of the nobility.
She turned away from reality and embraced the illusion of a noble death.
"What was I supposed to do, then?"
"Fight."
What else could she do?
"Fight?"
"Yes. Fight with everything you've got. If you do nothing and lose, at least try to sink one of your fangs into them. You never know, they might freak out and run away."
He wasn't just saying this because it sounded good, because similar incidents existed in the game Osian was playing.
I remember it was a special event that you would encounter as you roamed the field.
You're riding your horse, and suddenly the field turns dark, and a horrible-looking monster appears.
Its appearance was so intimidating that the first players to encounter it would die trying to flee in a panic.
Those who are still fighting despair as they realize that they have no health at all, even with their powerful skills.
They give up and die, and when they return to the same spot later, they never see him again
All they can do is run away and die, leaving only the memory of their defeat.
Fighting him is a different story.
No matter how many times you hit him, his health gauge won't budge, but Osian won't stop fighting.
He analyzed patterns, timed his attacks, and never stopped.
In doing so, he was able to chip away at its health gauge, albeit very slightly.
The monster was crushed by the momentum and fled like a coward, leaving behind an unusual item.
‘The Orb of Courage. A token of honor, given only to those who fought back.’
An item that less than 1% of the people who play the game have.
It doesn't have any special powers.
It was just a fancy trinket with a fancy name but it was a sign.
A badge of honor for someone who didn't run away, who didn't give up, who fought.
Osian was the first to get his hands on it.
From the moment he held it in his hands he realized how he was supposed to make his way in this world and what he must do.
"So fight to the end. Don't give up under any circumstances."
Osian swung his drawn sword.
-Kaang!
The blade grazed Orlea's shoulder, deflecting a bullet that had silently flown past.
"If you do, I will protect you."
"That's a nice thing to say."
Applauding Osian's words, a man in a brass mask appeared.
Osian recognized him instantly.
“It's you."
It was the brass-masked soldier who had been talking to Marquis de Debussy.