Eternally Regressing in Another World

Chapter 18: Square 14: The Country That Shouldn’t Be Spoken Of (2)

”Mister!”

Turning toward the voice, the girl who was supposed to have fled was running straight toward me. Come to think of it, this was the smile I’d fought to protect. Realizing that, a deep sense of accomplishment welled up from somewhere inside me, and I couldn’t help but smile.

”Mister! Thank you for saving me!”

”I didn’t really do anything. If you want to thank someone, thank Elizabeth.”

I gently patted her small head, and the girl turned toward the carriage and bowed deeply.

”Miss Elizabeth, thank you so much! You too, mister butler!”

”Ohhohohohoho! It’s hardly worth thanking me for, though it certainly was something!!”

”Yes, you’re very welcome.”

Amid Elizabeth’s loud laughter, I heard footsteps and turned around again. There stood the girl’s family, eyes brimming with tears. It seemed all of them had been hiding much closer than I’d realized.

”Miss Elizabeth, thank you so much for earlier.”

”You saved our lives.”

”Thank you, Miss Elizabeth.”

”Thank you, big sis!”

Facing the family bowing deeply before her, Elizabeth shook her head.

”No. Truthfully, I merely rushed in to help. If you wish to thank someone, thank him. This man is the one who brought me here.”

Elizabeth pointed at me with her fan. It was true, but hearing it said outright made me strangely embarrassed.

”Is that so? Thank you very much.”

”Not at all, it was nothing.”

”Um... we really would like to give you something in return...”

The girl’s father glanced worriedly toward the house.

”Is it alright to go inside right now?”

”Ah...”

Part of me wanted to let them back in, but there was no way I could let a child see what was inside right now. I leaned in close so the kids wouldn’t hear, and quietly told him there was a body inside.

”So, it might be better to call the guards without going in first...”

”I... I see, alright, just wait one moment please.”

The girl’s father started checking through all his pockets. Then he pulled an old novel out from inside his coat.

”I’m sorry, I don’t know if this even counts as a proper thanks, but this is about all I have on me right now...”

”You still have that with you?”

”Ah, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve reread it, but I’d be glad to give it to the person who saved our lives.”

He held it out to me, but there was no way I could just accept something this precious, something he’d clearly kept on him at all times.

”I can’t take something that important from you!”

But his resolve was firm.

”If I let the man who saved my life, my wife’s life, and above all my daughters’ lives, walk away empty handed, I know I would regret it forever. Would you indulge this selfish request of mine, so that I won’t have to live with that regret?”

Hearing those words, I finally understood the answer to a question that had been sitting somewhere deep inside me. Why someone like me, who’d never even been in a real fight before, had pushed myself this hard. The reason for it, I finally understood, if only vaguely.

”Same here... I didn’t want to live with regret either.”

”Huh?”

”...No, never mind.”

I’d fought because I hated the idea of a world where a happy family like this could just be wiped out. Understanding that now, I couldn’t betray that feeling. It felt a little wrong, but I decided to accept the gift gratefully.

”Understood. I’ll treasure it.”

I carefully tucked the novel into my bag, and Elizabeth, who’d clearly been waiting long enough, spoke up.

”Shall we get going now? Let’s be off.”

”Ah, right. Well then, I’ll be heading out.”

”Thank you so much, mister!”

At the girl’s voice, I remembered one important thing. I stopped on my way to the carriage and turned back.

”...Could you tell me your name?”

The little girl answered with an innocent smile.

”Huh? ...I’m Yu! What about you, mister?”

”I’m...”

”What are you doing! Keeping me waiting, how bold of you!”

”Oh, sorry, I’m coming. Thank you again for the book, really, take care!”

I hurried and climbed into the carriage. It set off right away, disappearing toward the main street.

”Honey! Let’s go report to the guards!”

”Ah, right. This place isn’t safe, let’s all go together.”

”Big sis, let’s hold hands!”

”Okay!”

The four family members, hands joined together. An ordinary, unremarkable scene of everyday life. An ordinary happiness, the kind found anywhere. What one man had risked his life to protect was, above all, ordinary, above all, warm, and above all, precious.

Inside the carriage, a shout close to a scream tore out of me.

”What in the world, all of a sudden!? If this is some kind of prank, I will slap you!?”

”Wh... what’s wrong? Even the horse got startled.”

Neither of their voices reached me right now. With trembling hands, I stared at the novel I’d just been given. Having idly opened the book, I was shaking with a shock even greater than the fight with Nest. I never would have imagined something like this could be written in it.

”No way... why... !?”

”What’s the matter? That book is quite good, certainly, but nothing in it should be shocking enough to...”

”Is this novel famous!? Like, really famous!?”

”Huh? Well, yes, it was a massive hit about ten years ago, if I recall.”

”Lady Elizabeth, not ten years, twelve years ago.”

Tender, holding the reins, calmly corrected her.

”...W-well, ten or twelve, it’s hardly any different!”

Elizabeth raised her fan to her mouth, trying to cover her slip.

”Never mind when it was published. Is this the kind of story that basically everyone knows!?”

”Well, not quite everyone, I’d say, but I do think a great many people know it. This book was tremendously popular from the moment it came out, and it’s still famous enough to come up in conversation even now.”

Why? Why would a book like this exist here!? Because this was...

The novel was set in a country called America.