I Reincarnated as the Villain in an Eroge, But Before I Realized, I Became a Capture Target
Translator: Reo
Editor: PalenMisha
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Luca POV 4 – Part 2
As we approached the mansion, our comrades came out to greet us.
As the girls expressed their concern, Noel just smiled and said she was ok. She said she was fine because I’d come to save her.
Since we were both soaking wet, a bath was quickly prepared for us and we each went in, separately.
Even at dinner, Noel had her usual smile. But that night, when she came to my room, her expression looked extremely painful. I urged her to come inside and we sat down on the bed.
If she had leaned on me, I would have embraced her in my arms in a heartbeat. If she wanted to be comforted, I would share my warmth with her as much as she wanted. But Noel didn’t seem to want those things, so the only thing I could do was wait.
“Luca, that person is… Zagan-dono is… my… brother.”
I couldn’t help but be surprised by the words she’d wrung out.
Zagan was… Noel’s brother? Lyle-sensei’s son?
“R-really?” I squeaked pathetically, but that just goes to show how surprised I was.
It was something I would never have imagined, but once she said it, I started seeing it.
Besides, Noel said that Zagan knew the colour of her mother’s hair – someone who hadn’t left the Brady mansion for the past fourteen years. He knew her hair was sky blue, something that even I, her childhood friend, didn’t know.
Apparently, the reason why her mother was cursed was because Sensei and his wife had originally abused Zagan.
“It didn’t feel like a lie. I mean, Father never tried to look for the person who did that to Mother. Whenever I’d ask him about it, he’d say there was no need to. Well, of course there was no need to. He knew from the start that the culprit was his own son… even though, since I was young, I’d dedicated myself to becoming a knight so I could catch that culprit.” Noel clenched her fist tightly.
Seeing her like that, I remembered something. It was fourteen years ago, about three months after the Brady mansion’s attack – the first time I’d seen Sensei in a while. At that time Sensei didn’t seem to hate his attacker, rather he seemed full of regret. I think he blamed himself.
He seemed surprised at himself when he patted my head, his face distorted like he was about to cry and he clenched his fist just like Noel was doing now.
I didn’t get it back then, but if the person who destroyed the mansion was his son who was originally living there, it made sense. He’d hidden him. Hid the dark attribute user… the black-haired Zagan.
The fact that Sensei felt regret meant that Zagan being abused was the truth.
Sensei probably didn’t mean to mistreat him, but it somehow ended up that way. The young Zagan, however, must have suffered a lot, so he ended up despising his parents and abhorring the society where discrimination ran rampant. Then…
I exhaled roughly to make myself stop thinking about it, then turned to Noel, who was sitting on her knees opposite me, and gently opened her clenched fist.
“Even if Zagan is truly your brother and Sensei had abused him, that doesn’t erase the fact that he has killed a lot of people. Such an atrocious criminal can’t go unpunished. Also, he did something horrible to you.”
No matter how sad his past was, the tens of thousands of people he was said to have killed, was not something that could ever be forgiven. No matter how much he had suffered, he was still a criminal. That was something that we shouldn’t forget.
Noel nodded. She too understood that.
“I know… he’s a bad person. But, next time I have to fight him, I don’t know if I’ll be able to point my sword at him without hesitating… I can still hear it. The heartbreak in his voice.”
Hearing her squeeze those words out in a heavy voice made my heart hurt.
Since Noel was always so full of justice, I thought that her mind would change after some time had passed, but, when it was least expected, she fell into worry. Thoughts about Zagan, about her brother, were probably running through her head.
I don’t know what exactly Noel and Zagan had talked about.
“I can still hear it. The heartbreak in his voice.” She’d said.
Did he cry as he tormented her?
From Zagan’s perspective, he was abused while his little sister was loved and adored by their parents. With such a huge disparity in treatment, it was no wonder Zagan was furious and wanted to kill Noel.
Furthermore, Noel had continued to believe that dark attribute users were bad because they were the ones who attacked her home and cursed her mother. However, in reality, the bad ones were her parents. Had they treated him well and raised him with love, he wouldn’t have become what he was today. He wouldn’t have killed all those people.
I didn’t know what it felt like to have your own sense of justice crumble before you. I didn’t know, so the only thing I could do was be there for her.
“Next time I’ll kill you for real… he said.”
Next time we met, Zagan would probably actually try to kill Noel. There was that much anger in him.
If he seriously attacked us, could we stop him? Would I be able to protect the wavering Noel?
It wasn’t clear in the first place whether I’d be able to make it out of that encounter alive. Maybe my sword too would falter when he stood before me.
Though I was filled with worry, I continued my training every day without fail. Everyone else also put in a lot of effort as always. Thanks to them I could look forward and go on with my life.
In the 7th dungeon, we managed to get our hands on the star fragment. We didn’t see Zagan.
In the 8th dungeon, it was the same. There, too, Zagan was nowhere to be found.
Even when leaving the dungeon, we had to be on high alert, feeling for signs of his presence. It wore on my spirit.
“This time too, we didn’t meet him,” Noel said, full of regret.
“Yeah… so it seems,” I agreed, with mixed feelings.
Noel definitely wanted to meet Zagan again. She probably wanted to have a proper conversation with him. She wanted to get closer to her brother. Even if it killed her.
But I felt like Zagan would just be more enraged if she tried to offer him any kind of sympathy.
For someone who’d been beaten down from the moment he was born, to suddenly be talked to gently by your sister who hadn’t even known you existed… I felt like her head would fly off within seconds. I didn’t think any kind of conversation would be possible. Which was why I didn’t want to meet him.
There also existed the possibility that Zagan didn’t want to see Noel. I mean, it made sense, right? Someone as strong as him could surprise attack us at any moment. He could use his magic to go through walls, infiltrate the mansion we were staying at undetected, and kill Noel in her sleep, no?
And yet he hadn’t done so yet. Maybe he too was wavering. Maybe other things had come up.
Maybe he didn’t want to kill Noel?
He did kill thousands of people, but perhaps he didn’t do it indiscriminately. Maybe he only killed those who persecuted dark attribute users?
Was that it, Zagan?
Tell me…
“Uwaa. A, ah… N-nii-sama. Nii-samaa!!” Noel wailed as she held Zagan’s corpse in her arms.
It was the 9th city. We’d been transferred out of the dungeon without getting the fragment. Then, on our way back to the mansion, several dragons attacked us.
The dragons were rapidly destroying the surrounding buildings. The tremendous strength they held could be felt, but they seemed to already be wounded and one had started to crumble. If it’s that one, we can defeat it – with that singular thought in mind, all the mages, knights, and adventurers grouped together and somehow managed to take on one of them. However, there were several other dragons still left. So our party headed towards them and received a report in the meantime that the Dark Organization was there. Apparently, they were the ones controlling the dragons.
So we headed their way and confronted the group of hooded figures.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the second prince and his companions. We’ve been following your movements closely.”
“Nii-, Zagan, where is Zagan-dono?”
“Zagan? Ah, him? He’s dead. The fact that the dragons are here is proof. He was unwilling to hand over the star fragments he took from us. Though I never did think one person would be able to take down two dragons. If I’d let such a dangerous person live, he would have become a danger to us all. It was the obvious outcome.”
After he finished speaking, two dragons came towards us. So it was true that they were the ones controlling them.
As I scolded Noel, telling her to get it together, I cooperated with the townspeople and fought against the dragons. The damage that had already been dealt to them was apparently thanks to Zagan.
And, after we finally managed to defeat the dragons, Noel and I went to look for Zagan.
Noel ran with no hesitation, as if she already knew where he was. Maybe she’d absorbed some of his mana when he assaulted her and had become able to sense his mana. Or maybe it was the bond between siblings.
We found Zagan, but…
His heart had already stopped beating.
Not caring if she’d get dirty, Noel held Zagan’s bloodied corpse and cried.
I too felt tears prickle my eyes, but I squeezed them back in.
I was sad, but honestly relieved. This ended without Zagan killing Noel. Without him having to kill her… without the number of his sins growing larger. Without having to face more of people’s malice.
Even if Zagan had listened to Noel, even if his heart had been moved, he was still a criminal. Even if he had a change of heart and was reformed, he would still have been condemned to death if caught. People would have thought even worse of him.
Which was why him being remembered as someone who died while fighting against dragons alone, trying to protect the city, was a sad but happy thing. Because this way, for me at least, he would become a hero.
Even though I knew he was a bad person, I still admired him.
Noel was looking down at Zagan with a blank gaze, tears still streaming down. Perhaps she’d gotten tired.
The two had existed as brother and sister for such a short period of time. It was a precious connection. Which was why—
“Let’s put his remains in a magic bag, hm?”
“….…”
“That way when we get to the capital we can tell Lyle-sensei what happened, and… bury him. Mourn him properly. Ok?”
I spoke to Noel gently. She was quiet but still nodded.
I didn’t want Noel to carry him. I was worried that if she did, she would suddenly take Zagan out of the bag and hug his corpse. That her heart would truly break.
Maybe she knew that herself because she just watched me quietly from the side as I took him from her.
I thought I should at least clean up his face, so I wet a handkerchief with water from my canteen and wiped the blood and dirt from his cheeks. Then I tidied his messy black hair. I touched his cheek, as if to make sure he was truly clean.
It was still warm.
Feeling apologetic towards Noel as she stroked Zagan’s head, I put him into my bag.
The fact that he went inside a bag that no living being could enter caused another wave of sadness to settle on her, and Noel cried out again.
I held her gently as she cried.
A few tears fell down my cheeks as well.
