I Don’t Want To Be the Main Character

86. Optional benefits

1.

“You, you’re just changing the subject by saying that I didn’t let you suck my blood.”

“How could that be?”

Arwen replied with a look of bewilderment.

It was a rare experience, if anything, to witness a cat burst into laughter as if it were crazy…

“Elena didn’t say anything like that. Oh, she did say something similar. She said that it was almost time for Her Majesty to pass away. She said it would only take a month or two at most.”

“Human memory is not very reliable.”

Arwen responded by waving her forelegs, then seemed to think deeply about something for a moment before nodding her head.

“Not a month or two, less than a month. At least that’s what I remember.”

“Suddenly, I feel like there’s a really tight time limit…….”

“The shadow of death is growing darker. Well, I don’t care whether the Emperor of the Human Empire dies or not.”

Arwen muttered, raised her head and stared at me.

“Ludrick, aren’t you different?”

“……That’s because you’re a vampire and not a human, and if you were living in this empire, wouldn’t there be even fewer people who would be happy if a civil war suddenly broke out over the throne?”

“That’s true, but that’s why I asked you to talk to the princess. I remember the last civil war was quite long and the empire was completely split in half.”

“…….”

“It was a bloody tragedy. At least according to my memory, Ludrick, you were probably around half a year…?”

“What is half a year?”

“I was so angry that I didn’t even talk to the princess.”

I was speechless.

I didn’t know much about this story, as Elena had intentionally omitted it and never told me about it.

However, given my personality, if Elena had tried to start a civil war over the throne, I would have stopped her. Considering my personality, I would have pursued a petty bourgeois life of longevity, and I would not have tried to grab a big piece of this opportunity.

The picture was being drawn without much difficulty. But would Elena be the kind of person to listen to me if I told her not to?

I didn’t think so. Just by looking at it, it’s obvious that he doesn’t listen to what others say. There’s a reason why they say that physiognomy is a science.

I don’t know, but it would probably be easier to stop Crayon Shin-chan than to stop Elena, who’s lost in something and has her eyes turned away. At least this time, I haven’t experienced it yet.

“But somehow it was resolved in half a year.”

Rather, that was what was surprising.

If I had tried to stop it by carrying a packed lunch and going around, and if so many people had died that Arwen would have gone as far as to say, there’s no way it could have been resolved in just half a year.

Even though I am the type of person who would find it difficult to truly hate someone, if it was an accident of that scale, I would have been prepared to never see it again.

“What… I didn’t see it myself, but I heard that he was so pathetic that he was beaten and hung up on.”

“……If you win the civil war, you’re the emperor. Even so, you’re the emperor of a country, so is that okay?”

“I don’t know any more details than what happened between you and the princess.”

“good.”

That’s it for now.

Anyway, even if Arwen and I were to just keep arguing here, there would be no way to reach a conclusion, and this was an issue that needed to be discussed directly with Elena, the person involved.

If a civil war really breaks out, the will of Aileen, the only Grand Duchess in the Empire, will naturally be reflected, and Rasil, who holds the authority to command the entire Navy, will naturally be involved.

Both of them are in such high positions that it would be impossible to just let it pass quietly without taking sides.

Even though I know nothing about politics, I’m not stupid enough to not understand that situation.

“Do you have any plan in mind?”

“Whether it’s life or death, you have to talk to the person involved. I’ll just wait a few days and then talk to Elena.”

“Don’t forget.”

Arwen nodded as if she understood, then placed her forelegs on my chest.

The purple eyes that originally gave off a strangely mysterious feeling like amethyst, but when they transformed into a cat’s appearance, they now really suited her so well that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call them cat’s eyes.

Arwen added calmly, her purple eyes staring at me as before.

“No matter what choice you make, I am on your side.”

“……thank you.”

“you’re welcome.”

Flick.

Arwen jumped down from my lap and quickly disappeared through the open door as if nothing had happened.

2.

The birthday celebration, which had been going on for a long time, ended. In fact, I was busy running around here and there throughout the entire event except for the last day, so I don’t know for sure, but the atmosphere in the palace, which seemed to be floating somewhere, returned to its usual state.

That also meant that my daily routine had returned to normal.

“Is this what it feels like to be a graduate student going to work in a lab?”

In fact, even if I said I was going to work at the lab, it was only a five-minute walk. And since it was in the same villa, the travel route was very short. If I wanted, I could spend the whole day without leaving the villa building.

But aside from that, I didn’t really feel like going to the lab in a few days and starting some indefinite magical research.

My research into recovery magic to try to fix my constitution was a miserable failure.

Actually, it would be a bit much to say that it was a failure, but I would say that Sylphia’s personal research methods all failed, so she was discouraged.

They say that the important thing is an unwavering spirit, but I put in a lot of effort, but since there were no visible results, I couldn’t help but let those words come out of my mouth as a grumble.

“You look unwell since this morning. Did something happen?”

“Ah, Sylphia.”

As soon as I opened the door to the lab and entered, Silphia, who was leaning back in her chair, greeted me.

Although I hesitated for a moment, I soon accepted the greeting as if nothing had happened.

There were other issues, not just the simple experiment at Sylphia’s Lair. But now, we’ve both reached a tacit agreement to act as if nothing happened.

The Master glanced around the lab, which was still dark, then sat down in my seat, opened the magic book, and answered.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done it, so for some reason I don’t want to do it.”

“Oh, I know how you feel. I understand.”

“……Even if you don’t want to do it, you have to do it, right? But did the teacher go out to play again?”

“No, you’re stuck inside today.”

Sylphia turned her head and nodded toward her master’s laboratory.

“It looks like you’re doing some important research.”

“It seems like the research is nearing its final stages.”

Sylphia shrugged.

When I focused my magic a little and looked closely, I could feel an unusual flow of mana, as if the research that the Master had shown me last time was nearing its final stages.

But if there was one thing that bothered me, it was that the feeling wasn’t ordinary.

It was almost an ominous feeling that felt like an animalistic instinct. There was no specific basis for it, but it was somehow close to an ominous feeling that my sixth sense was warning me of something.

“It’s a chronic problem for magicians. It’s an occupational disease.”

“yes?”

“Looks like there isn’t much time left.”

Silphia muttered, glanced at the lab, and continued talking.

“Perhaps that unlucky bat woman warned us once before. Perhaps this is proof that the wizards’ thirst for the unknown, their thirst for knowledge, has overcome even their instincts.”

“…What does that mean?”

“It’s nothing. The only ones who knew the whole story were me and that bat woman. I guess Her Highness the Princess was too busy with other things to care about this time of year.”

Sylphia ended her words with a strangely sarcastic tone, then turned her gaze back to the magic book and added briefly.

“Ludrick will find out soon enough. It’s not like it’s something that can be communicated through words anyway.”

“……?”

“Rather than me explaining it now… it’s faster to just see it then.”

As soon as Sylphia finished speaking, a burst of laughter erupted from the Master’s laboratory.

“Hahahaha! Mr. Ludrick! Miss Sylphia! Both of you, come here! Quickly!”

“suddenly……?”

The timing was quite exquisite. I looked at Sylphia with a puzzled expression, but Sylphia just shrugged her shoulders as if she had expected it to happen, and didn’t give a clear answer.

“They’re calling, so I guess I should go first, right?”

“……Is there any problem with the research you are doing, Master?”

“You’ll know when you see it. It wasn’t even at the point where I could stop it with words from the beginning, and it’s within the range where I can handle it. So, you don’t have to worry.”

As soon as Sylphia got up, the Master’s voice boomed out again.

“Come quickly and see! Quickly! It’s the discovery of the century!”

I couldn’t shake off the strangely ominous feeling, but I couldn’t not go when they were calling me that.

I had no choice but to raise my body with a face that seemed to wonder if this was right.

… … This time, I didn’t feel good at all. It was like an additional ability acquired as my magical realm increased, but it would be more accurate to say that my sixth sense was a little more developed than others, perhaps because my body was sensitive to magical power.

And now my intuition was sounding an alarm, a sort of warning that I wouldn’t be able to go and see a good sight.

In the end, I walked towards the lab without being able to completely shake off my anxiety.