My Death Flags Show No Sign of Ending - Chapter 116 (Part 2)

【”Tangled up in something? Meaning?”】

【”When I went to visit again, that person had forgotten about being saved by you. Suddenly, the story became that they were attacked by monsters, fainted, and were carried to the hospital before they came to.”】

If that person’s memory was manipulated, it was probably through Justus’ doing.

However, Harold did not understand what would have been the meaning of doing that.

【”Ridiculous. I’m sure that person was just having hallucinations from being on the brink of death.”】

【”No way! That’s definitely not it!”】

【”What are you, a doctor? How would you know?”】

【”Because it was weird! That person didn’t just forget about being helped by you, that person completely forgot about the existence of Harold Stokes!”】

The problem was neither that the knight had a fuzzy memory nor a simple memory loss.

The knight had lost every memory regarding one single person. It was a strange occurrence.

Granted, maybe this could happen in nature in some outlying case, but, at least for Sid and Elen, it probably felt far too specific for Harold alone to be forgotten completely.

【”In the past, soon after you were sentenced to death, chief Cody told us “It’s not about whether you can believe  in Harold, but whether you can believe in yourselves”. But even though I thought you were innocent, I didn’t believe in myself…!”】

【”It was the same for me. Even though you words were always snide, I knew you weren’t a bad guy… But I didn’t act on those thoughts.”】

Their feelings of regret were transmitted more than well. Even under the dim light of the bar, the tears building up in their eyes were clear to see.

Though Robinson wasn’t here, he too was probably blaming himself for not believing in Harold’s innocence, just like his two comrades.

Harold had not spent much time in the knight order, but he knew these three friends were very kind.

Therefore, he took it upon himself to speak and try to convey something along the lines of “Don’t worry about it”.

【”No matter what angle I look at this from…. You’re utter morons.”】

【”W-what? We’re sincerely apologizing to you over here!”】

【”And that’s why I’m saying you’re morons. What exactly are you apologizing for?”】

【”Well, obviously it’s because we wanted to believe in you but-…”】

【”Alright, let’s imagine a world where you’d have declared my innocence loud and clear… What would that have changed? Do you seriously believe the likes of you could have done anything about that jury’s sentence?”】

Sid and Elen did not answer. They stayed quiet.

Even if they had intervened as they wished and gotten all the knights of the order to speak against Harold’s sentence, the results would have been the same.

After all, it had already been determined from the start, before any deliberation, that Harold would get the death penalty.

【”While I’m at it, I’ll let you in on something. The removal of that death sentence was always the plan. It was set up from the get go.”】

【”【”Huh?”】”】

Sid and Elen reacted the way Harold wanted.

Of course, this was a lie.

The whole series of events after the battle in the Bertis forest had been completely out of his expectations.

But even so――

【”I’m still alive. Isn’t that proof enough for the dirt you have for brains?”】

Harold laughed with a mocking tone.

He laughed because he was used to dealing with problems this way.

He laughed to hide his heart-wrenching gratitude towards the kindness of these two comrades, who had been dealing with regrets for years, wanting to apologize to a lost cause like Harold Stokes.

He could only hide those feelings.

After all, ‘Harold Stokes’ would not show gratitude in such a situation.

And so, to reward their kindness, Harold used his usual method instead.

【”Heh, how laughably arrogant of you to assume you might have been able to change something back then.”】

【”Arrogant?! You’re the one person I don’t want to hear that from!”】

【”Being arrogant means putting on airs out of pride. Unlike you, I am not arrogant, I do not put on airs. I behave to the level of my abilities.”】

【”I’m pretty sure that manner of thinking is arrogant enough on its own.”】

Harold’s statement was arrogant indeed, and that meant everything was fine.

That meant there was no need to feel guilty.

Through his behavior, Harold was emphasizing on the fact that he was still the same, and that worrying about him was meaningless.

【”Damn it! Still as haughty and domineering as ever!”】

【”Haaa… Where are we going to pour all our pent up worries and regrets now…”】

【”At times like these, you gotta drink, Sid! Harold will take care of the tab!”】

【”Hey, what do you think you’re-…”】

【”I don’t care! You’re a noble, you should pay for these types of things like it’s nothing!”】

【”…That’s right! Alright, drinks are on Harold, today we’re gonna gorge ourselves all night!”】

【”…Don’t you have any shame?”】

Well, in all truth, Harold liked their current behavior better than those gloomy faces they’d been making earlier.

Given everything he had done to save their lives, the one thing he wanted in return was for them to live their lives with smiles.

The timing of this reunion worried him, but he still hoped they would somehow calmly go on with their lives without raising more death flags…

【”Oh, I forgot to tell you! Once we’re done with this mission, we’ll be getting married! Where should we send you the invitation?”】

【”I mean, we were your seniors at one point, you wouldn’t miss our wedding, would you～?”】

【”Are you kidding me? Shut your damn mouths.”】

Harold’s hostile words were not directed towards the marriage invitation.

Rather, if he had to say, it was directed at the act of getting married itself.

(『When this battle is over, let’s get married…』is one of the deadliest death flags there is! )

Apparently, Harold’s bad feeling was on point.

In a certain sense, Ellen and Sid were just as loved by death flags as Harold himself.

Another issue had just mercilessly set itself upon Harold’s already full plate.