Chapter 68 (1/2)

Chapter 68

Afterwards, though there was no disaster, the situation became extremely chaotic.

The people who had fainted couldn’t just be ignored, so they were carried in a vacant room. As for the people who were still conscious but shaking in fear, they were taken to another room since they needed to be calmed down. Giving a sidelong glance to that scene, Harold, wanting to put himself in solitary confinement, decided to return to the room which had been assigned to him.

As the main culprit behind the situation, his help would only make things worse. But even if that wasn’t the case, he was hurting from the surrounding people’s glances.

Erica was looking after the fallen men, Francis continued to make passes at her while helping her, and Itsuki was trying to stop him.

Thinking that nothing could be done about this situation, Harold shrugged his shoulders and hurriedly disappeared from that place. Though this was bad for Itsuki, Harold judged that, knowing Francis, things would turn out just fine.

Francis J. Arkwright.

He had emerald green eyes, and loose wavy blond hair. He gave off the impression of being a frivolous womanizer and slightly narcissistic, but overlooking that, Francis was a proper man who always stayed true to his principles. His nickname was Franck.

Although he used a rapier in battle, he was somewhat lacking in attack power. In the game, his physical attack level was lower than Erica’s and Collet’s, and was only a rank above Lifa’s. On the other hand, the magic spells he could use were aplenty, he could even use healing magic, but it wasn’t that easy to invoke for him as he didn’t have that much MP.

Despite those lacking characteristics, he was still a jack of all trades. He looked exactly like a prince, and not without reason as he was actually a prince of the kingdom, and the 37th in line to inherit the throne.

Be that as it may, he himself did not expect much from that position and wasn’t waiting for his turn on the throne to come, he didn’t even want to become king. For the time being, he seemed to have no dissatisfaction with his present condition as he could live freely as he wished just by having the title of a prince.

Of course, he was one of the original story’s characters.

He was extremely fond of beautiful women and would at times let go of his honor and start hitting on them, but if one closed his eyes on that, Franck wasn’t that bad of a guy. In the game, he wasn’t really able to really seduce any women anyway as he was recognized as a prince who stood above the nation and was travelling together with Liner who was driven by righteousness.

Therefore, based on how he was portrayed in the game’s lore, it was not surprising at all that he suddenly started making passes at Erica. What was surprising however was his statement about not aiming for other women anymore.

If Francis stopped being a playboy, it would be like if Harold stopped being cynical. In other words, it would be inconceivable.

Perhaps he had been a little too charmed by Erica. He did recognize her as a beautiful woman in the game, but looking at how passionate he was right now, it was obvious that he was even more taken with her than in the original story.

And Harold had a hard time figuring out the cause of that.

(Oh right, Erica’s becoming even more beautiful than she was in the game, isn’t she?)

That’s the only thing Harold could come up with, having no reliable way of finding out the reason behind Francis’ enthusiasm.

Well, it should be fine, thought Harold as he stretched himself, refreshing his mood.

Looking outside his window, the weather was still as good as it was the day before. Despite the various happenings from the previous day, Harold’s sleep seemed to have gone fine since his body was in a good condition.

Today’s breakfast’s going to be delicious, while having these kinds of carefree thoughts, Harold remembered the sketch of the residence’s layout, which had been placed in his room, and he headed towards the dining hall of the mansion.

The breakfast appeared to be laid out in a smorgasbord style, but of course, it wasn’t just a self-service buffet. It was a buffet with an air of high society to it, where people could actually order their food and have the chef make it on the spot.

Harold had ordered a chop steak for he deemed meat was a must in these occasions. And as he looked for a vacant seat with said steak in his hand…

【”Oh”]

【”Hmm?”]

【”……tsk”]

Harold’s eyes met with Francis’, who had already chanced upon a seat. Francis reacted to that, which caught Itsuki’s attention. As for Harold, he clicked his tongue by reflex.

Harold tried to ignore the duo as he felt that this was going to be troublesome, but unfortunately, one of them called out to him.

【”Hold on. I’d like to have a little talk.”]

【”If it’s about Erica, ask her elder brother.”]

【”No, I want to talk with you.”]

【”Exactly. So you should just sit down for now.”]

Itsuki went behind Harold before he even noticed, held his shoulders with a solid grip, and made him sit down by force.

Having had his refreshed mood ruined like so, Harold wanted to let out a sigh.

【”So, what the hell do you want to ask?”]

【”Let’s start by introducing ourselves. I am Francis J. Arkwright. “]

【”I’m Lord Strouse.”]

【”You knew about me from before, right? How come?”]

【”I only knew your name. But that doesn’t mean I’ve ever personally met you.”]

【”Well, I guess that’s right. Because I don’t remember you either.”]

Francis was staring fixedly at Harold, closely observing him. Without caring about that, Harold kept carrying one mouthful of his steak after another from his plate to his mouth.

As he chewed on it, the juices started to overflow. The meat disappeared in his mouth with the juice, as if it was melting, and he hardly needed to put any strength in his jaw. The taste permeated both the meat and the fat.

He didn’t need to express in words how delicious it was. He just silently ate the rare steak that was oozing blood.

【”….. This looks horrifying, it’s as if you were eating an actual person.”]

【”Well, there is no denying that. But even though your mouth is dyed with blood, I think it actually looks good on you rather than messy.”]

【”If you took some red wine instead, it would look even better.”]

【”In short, it’s the red of the blood that looks good on me, right? Alright, then If you bastards don’t mind, I’ll just use your blood instead of the meat’s.”]

【”【”No thank you.”]”]

The two answered in harmony. Despite the fuss they made about Erica, they seemed to be pretty good friends.

However, even for Harold who was familiar with the game, Itsuki and Francis being friends was a back story he hadn’t heard of. It was a connection that probably didn’t even exist in fan-fictions.

【”Francis, you’re supposed to be Itsuki’s friend, right? How come you didn’t even know his younger sister?”]

【”I knew he had a younger sister but I wasn’t told she was that beautiful. Why didn’t you tell me about her?”]

【”Because it was obvious that things would turn out like this if I did that. How could I possibly use my precious younger sister as bait for a lustful demon like you?”]

That was a perfectly good reason. As Francis’ friend, Itsuki had to know about his connections with women whether he liked it or not. So, given his sister complex, there was no way for Itsuki to properly introduce Erica to Francis.

Apparently, Ituski had not invited Francis to the celebration so that he could bring Erica, but Francis still heard of the party from somewhere and just happened to come by.

【”Well, that’s alright. From now on, the romance between Erica and I will-“]

【”Will not start, ever.”]

【”….By the way, Lord”]

【”….What?”]

Itsuki’s overbearing cut-in forced a sudden change in the topic of the conversation, but Harold decided to just roll with it.

【”About yesterday’s incident, I heard from Itsuki that you were shielding Erica, but, wasn’t that overkill?”]

【”I barely grazed them with some blood thirst, those small fries can only blame themselves for not even being able to deal with something of that level.”]

【”How many brave men out there you think would be able to keep calm after receiving a blood thirst like that one at close proximity?”]

【”Even Franck and I would have a tough time with it.”]

【”I thought I was stabbed from behind and died.”]

【”You should have felt something similar from the eyes of those women you had your way with, probably without their consent.”]