I Returned with the Cheat Holy Sword

Through faint, ragged breaths, Vespa barely managed to speak.
She was calling out to him, yet her eyes weren’t even focused on Carlyle standing right in front of her—they were gazing off in the wrong direction, unseeing.

It made sense. Her upper and lower body had been completely severed by a noble-class demon.
Every organ in her body had already stopped functioning long ago.
The only reason she still clung to life was the immense mana she had accumulated as a Grand Mage.

She was burning through her body, delaying her preordained death through sheer magical force.
Mana was substituting for every cell’s function, forcibly defying the absolute laws of life and death.
…And Carlyle knew exactly why she was performing such a miracle.

“Where… is the young lady?”
She simply wanted to see someone. Just once, even for a moment.
“Where… is she…? I’d like to see her… one last time—”

Carlyle lowered his head.
He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t bring himself to speak the truth.
“…She’s on her way here. She’s running, quickly, to see you.”

It was a lie.
Gray had coldly refused to come, saying she had more important things to do than protect “useless people” like that.
Vespa—lying here in such a horrid state—was one of those “useless people.”

The one person who had stood by her unconditionally, without exception, her entire life.
“Carlyle… did you get hurt too…?”
Vespa reached out and brushed Carlyle’s cheek.

She was wiping away the blood from his face—his face that was a complete, bloody mess.
—This person…
Even in this state, she was worrying about someone else.
“…There was a battle on the way.”

No, that wasn’t true.
Carlyle had begged Gray—clung to her legs—to help, warning that if she didn’t intervene, Vespa and the civilians in this sector would be annihilated.
Gray had kicked him off with her heel and immediately leapt into battle. This was the result of her choice.

She said that protecting people was someone else’s job, and went off to fight the demon leaders.
On a broad level, it wasn’t the wrong decision. The more demons the Hero killed, the closer they came to victory. That was the Hero’s very purpose.
—But if she did that, Vespa would certainly die.

No matter how “right” something was, there were things that simply should not be done.
If you were human, there were things you should never turn your back on.
Especially her. If Gray Chasefield was still human before she was a Hero—

She should not have abandoned Vespa. That was basic morality.
That was why he stopped her.
And this was the result of that failure.

“...Is that so…”
“Yes. Please, just hang on a little longer, Vespa. A priest is coming with us.”
“I’ve been holding on… because I wanted… to see the young lady… just once…”

Her faint breath grew softer.
“I think… I’ve reached my limit—”
The light of life faded from the eyes of a Grand Mage who had once stood among humanity’s strongest.

“Carlyle.”
“—Yes.”
“Was it worth it… to have served the young lady… all this time…?”

“—”
“Will she… remember me…?”
Carlyle clenched his teeth so hard that his gums began to bleed, red trickling from the corner of his mouth.

He swallowed his expression. He swallowed his feelings.
There was only one answer he could give here.
“Yes.”

He smiled brightly as he spoke.
“To Gray Chasefield, you were an irreplaceably precious person.”
He told a pure white lie.

“She will surely remember you.”
He did not deny her life.
He turned away from the truth.

A faint smile appeared on Vespa’s face.
“Please take care of the young lady.”
As if that /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ alone was enough for her.

“She’s… a lonely person—she’ll need… someone by her side—”
Even at the end, those were her words.
“Even if it’s you, Carlyle—please, stay beside her—”

Words that remained with him, even now.
***
“...Mr. Carlyle? Carlyle?”

The hellish scene that had been stuck behind his eyelids vanished in an instant.
Carlyle snapped back to reality, looking ahead.
“Ah—are you… tired?”

In front of him was Vespa Luciana, Gray’s personal maid, fidgeting and nervously watching his reaction.
Probably because Carlyle had suddenly gone silent and stared at her without saying a word.
“No, it’s nothing.”

As he gave a faint smile in response, relief visibly flooded her expression.
“You call someone over, and then just space out like that! That’s rude, you know!”
“My apologies.”

“N-No, I mean—if you apologize that seriously, it just makes me feel guilty…”
She started flailing again.
Even though she’d received a proper apology, she acted like she was the one who’d done something wrong.

[……]
And watching her act like that, the Holy Sword was unusually silent.
It was likely being crushed under the weight of guilt.

This was the one thing the soul inside the sword regretted the most after regaining her humanity—what had happened to Vespa.
“A-Anyway! Let’s get going! You said we had a tour to do!”
“Are you really okay with this, though? I only asked you last night.”

He had asked Vespa to join him as a ‘partner’ for the day as he toured classes with Elena—on the very first day of the curriculum.
She must’ve had her own schedule, yet she agreed immediately.
“….”

Thinking about it, wasn’t she someone who had a bit of a grudge against Carlyle for “stealing” Gray?
And yet she reacted like that.
He wondered how someone with a personality like this had managed to function in society at all. There had to be some limit to how nice, passive, and soft-hearted a person could be.

Good thing she has Grand Mage-level talent. Without it, she really would've been doomed.
[If you screw around with Vespa, I’ll kill you myself.]
Would you, though?

He smirked inwardly as he walked.
[But really, why tour the classes with her specifically?]
I need to see what level her talent’s at, for starters.

Since the regression point had been moved forward quite a bit, it was unclear how much Vespa had developed by this point.
If the tour included Yoram’s foundational curriculum, it should give him a good sense of her aptitude.
Originally, she only awakened her potential when I met her…

It had been about three years after the Hell invasion, when she finally realized her aptitude as a mage and devoted herself to training.
…In that short time, she had become a Grand Mage. A title awarded only to the most elite mages on the continent.
There was no other word for it but “genius.”

Judging by her potential, she’s probably already above average—but I need to confirm it with tests.
Once he got a grasp of her capability, he planned to help her set a clear path forward.
Conveniently, the four Hero skills he was planning to copy now were all related to magic, so he could use those as a basis for guidance.

As he was thinking that—
“…Hm?”
He crossed paths with Gray, who was walking down the opposite corridor.

Upon spotting Carlyle and Vespa, she walked straight over to them.
“Class?”
“Yes, young lady.”

“Yes, young lady!”
Carlyle and Vespa responded at the same time.
…But Gray’s gaze remained fixed solely on Carlyle.

“After class, go pick up my gear again. I barely used it and it already broke.”
“Should… should I go instead, young lady?”
“…”

Her eyes briefly flicked toward Vespa, who had spoken up—then returned to Carlyle.
“And buy some new bath salts. The last ones weren’t very good.”
“I-I can prepare better ones—”

“…”
Again, her gaze momentarily shifted to Vespa, then back to Carlyle.
“Oh, and tomorrow’s meal—”

To Carlyle.
“Contact my father—”
Again to Carlyle.

Even though Vespa was standing right beside him, clearly also a retainer, Gray was speaking only to him. It was as if Vespa were invisible.
And the longer it went on, the more Vespa’s shoulders drooped.
It was painful to watch—like her insides were smoldering. She wanted to be helpful too, but Gray gave her no attention at all.

“—That’s all. Report back once you’re done.”
That’s likely why she did it.
“Um, young lady! Is there anything I can help with—”

She made the mistake of placing her hand on Gray’s shoulder as she was walking away.
The next moment—
The Holy Sword was drawn in a flash, its blade pressed against Vespa’s neck.

It stopped just short of cutting her down—only thanks to Gray’s superhuman reflexes.
“…”
Crimson blood dripped from Vespa’s neck where the blade had pierced her skin.

She hadn’t even realized what happened. Her face went pale as she collapsed on the spot—her legs giving out completely.
“….”
Even Gray’s eyes wavered for a moment. It had been an instinctive movement, not a conscious one.

Something hovered at the corner of her lips, as if she was about to speak.
She probably knew what should be said in moments like this.
But instead—

“…Don’t touch me. Know your place.”
As always, the worst possible line came out.
Carlyle watched with a bitter smile.

People don’t change all at once.
If it had been Carlyle on the receiving end of that, she might’ve apologized.
But her way of treating anyone else still had a long, long way to go.

[…]*
While the Holy Sword remained silent, Gray turned on her heel and walked off.
Carlyle silently watched her go, then turned toward Vespa.

“Are you alright? That was far too much from the young lady.”
“She didn’t mean it, I’m sure.”
Vespa replied immediately.

…Even though she had just been the victim of that violence.
She was making excuses for Gray, asking Carlyle not to think badly of her.
“It was my fault. I know she hates being touched, and still—”

Her voice trembled.
She buried her face in her knees and wept.
“—I just need to do better… If I want to be of use to her…”

“….”
It was a scene Carlyle had seen many times before his regression.
“If I work harder… she’ll recognize me eventually…”

No.
Carlyle already knew the result.
She never would.

No matter how hard Vespa tried.
No matter how unconditionally she offered her love—
The Hero’s eyes would never turn toward her.

That sharpened arrogance crushed even the most fundamental virtues of being human.
That was the future that awaited her.
[……!]

Carlyle could feel Gray grinding her teeth inside the Holy Sword.
It must’ve been agonizing, reliving the wrongs her past self had committed.
But—

It’s okay.
He calmed her.
[…You.]

I told you, I won’t let it repeat.
Not this time.
He wouldn’t let anyone die like that again.

…He wouldn’t let people end up miserable.
Not while he still lived and breathed.
He had said it before: this time would be different.

Even letting Gray rampage like this—was part of that resolve.
He knew how to fix it.
“…Miss Vespa.”

Carlyle knelt before the crying Vespa.
“Don’t cry.”
“Sniff… I-I’m sorry… It’s such a pathetic sight…”

“No. Because from now on, I’m going to make you very happy.”
“…?”
Vespa blinked, her eyes full of tears.

“Let’s make the young lady completely dependent on you.”
“….”
“How about we really get entangled with her this time?”

…Vespa stopped crying.
Because the sentence was just too baffling.
[Care to explain what the hell that meant?]

…Did it sound that weird to you?
[……]