Chapter 69
Father (1)
I came to the conclusion that the NPC inside the ring was the “real Haydam.”
Of course, if someone asked me how Haydam, who had died long ago, had ended up inside the jewel of a ring—let alone in the form of a cat—I wouldn’t have an answer.
But it was a feeling.
My instincts were telling me that this creature really was Haydam.
However...
She went back into the ring at that exact moment?
Instead of answering when I asked if she was Haydam, she had vanished into the ring.
Considering that she had refused to react no matter how much I provoked her afterward, it seemed she was unable to give any sort of answer to the question of whether she was Haydam.
I didn’t know what circumstances were preventing her from doing so, but it was still better for her to be “Haydam” than some unidentified NPC.
At least that meant there could be no ulterior motive behind her desire to protect the Commander.
As long as I continued playing the role of Haydam as she wanted and didn’t make the Commander “sad,” she would cooperate with me.
...And I felt that living as Haydam with the real Haydam’s tacit approval might ease my guilt, even if only slightly.
Still, anyone would find it suspicious if I started calling the ring Haydam...
She wouldn’t admit that she was the real Haydam, and she hadn’t given me another name to call her, either.
In that case, I figured it would be fine for me to come up with one on my own.
After thinking briefly, I spoke to the ring.
“From now on, your name is Luna.”
She was a cat who lived inside the Lunamoon Ring, so Luna.
The ring seemed to tremble at my half-hearted naming sense.
...Why can’t she say that she’s Haydam?
Why did she need someone else to impersonate Haydam in her place?
Did she not want to appear before the Commander in the form of a cat monster?
Just what had happened for her to become trapped inside the Lunamoon Ring?
Countless questions filled my mind, but there were several other matters I needed to confirm first.
The most urgent of them concerned Lieutenant General Max.
Had he really ordered Bones’s death?
***
Not long after waking up, I was discharged from the hospital.
I hadn’t actually been injured when I was found in the cave beneath the cliff, and even after undergoing every possible examination, they had found nothing wrong with me.
The Commander seemed displeased about my discharge, but he couldn’t stop me when I insisted on leaving.
Afterward, Meursault told me something unexpected.
“The leader of Team Two committed suicide?”
According to Meursault, the leader of Team Two had been rescued from the cliff and taken back to the district, where he was placed in detention.
He had been found dead the following day.
“The official cause of death is suicide. For now.”
“For now?”
“There were personnel assigned to watch the leader of Team Two at the time. They reported that they left their posts for unspecified reasons, and when they returned, they found him hanging.”
It seemed Meursault suspected the possibility that someone had killed the team leader and disguised it as a suicide.
It was a reasonable suspicion.
“How far has the investigation progressed?”
“The leader of Team Two was made to ‘commit suicide,’ and we failed to recover the bodies of the other Team Two members. That leaves only the testimonies of Bones and Lucas... but those two refuse to speak about the incident. After hearing the circumstances from His Excellency, I can understand why they are remaining silent.”
They’re afraid Lieutenant General Max will be identified as the culprit.
However, since the two of them were the only survivors of Team Two, keeping silent wasn’t a particularly wise decision.
“Did you try persuading them?”
Meursault gave a slight nod.
“They said they would speak once you woke up.”
Those bastards.
No... in a way, perhaps that was the wiser choice.
I was the one who had given them hope that Lieutenant General Max might not have been responsible, and they weren’t complete idiots.
They must have understood that if they carelessly testified, “We don’t know if it was true, but the leader of Team Two claimed Lieutenant General Max ordered it,” their testimony could be used against him.
They had probably intended to wait until I was awake and able to support the argument that Lieutenant General Max might not be the culprit.
“Putting those two aside... I doubt you simply sat around waiting for me to wake up.”
“That is correct. His Excellency and Lieutenant Plato testified that you interrogated the leader of Team Two and obtained a confession that Lieutenant General Max had ordered the attack. Lieutenant General Max has therefore also been detained.”
“What did Lieutenant General Max say?”
“He insists he knows nothing about it. What do you think?”
The fact that Meursault was asking my opinion meant he had also realized that something about this case was strange.
“It wasn’t Lieutenant General Max. He had nothing to gain by ordering something like that. And if the leader of Team Two intended to die anyway, there was no reason for him to confess.”
“His Excellency appears to think the same, but that makes the situation more complicated.”
“Because one of Father’s close aides might be the culprit?”
Meursault hesitated, then asked quietly,
“You already... know?”
If he said I already knew, that meant Meursault also knew who the culprit was.
In that case...
“Does Father suspect the same person I do?”
Instead of denying it, Meursault merely stared at me.
These people...
They know who the culprit is, yet they haven’t punished him.
What had previously been mere suspicion turned into certainty.
The person who had tried to murder Bones while disguising it as an order from Lieutenant General Max was the leader of the pro-Hayden faction.
Captain Josef.
“Seven soldiers died because of this. If you’re hesitating for political reasons, then I’m... a little disappointed.”
Meursault looked considerably flustered and answered in a defensive tone.
“Th-that is not the reason! It would be one thing if we had definitive proof, but we cannot suspect one of His Excellency’s closest aides without evidence. Above all, the person who directly committed the murders was the leader of Team Two, and he is already dead. Furthermore, His Excellency and Plato heard him confess that he acted under Lieutenant General Max’s threats while begging for his life, so...”
“Meursault.”
I calmed him down before he could continue speaking without even stopping to breathe.
“Why do we need evidence?”
“...Pardon?”
“Did we have evidence when we killed Lieutenant General Bartom?”
“...!”
Meursault looked at me with an expression that was half admiration and half shock.
“You truly will become an excellent dictator, Lord Haydam...”
Was “excellent” really an adjective that should be placed in front of the word “dictator”?
More importantly, it seemed even he was aware that the Commander was one.
“However... handling the matter that way this time would be far too risky. Lieutenant General Bartom was someone outside the fence. If you deal with someone inside the fence in the same manner, no one will remain loyal to you in the future—even if that person truly is guilty.”
“I’m not going to handle it personally.”
“The same applies if you order me to do it.”
So he automatically assumed I would order him.
“Why do you think I’d ask you?”
“Then who else is there?”
“Anton.”
The name that came out of my mouth must have been completely unexpected, because Meursault was unable to speak for quite some time.
“Are you serious? No, more importantly, did he agree to do it?”
“I’m going to visit him now and threaten him.”
At that, Meursault’s strength seemed to leave him, and his expression soon turned resigned.
“...Anton is facing quite a bit of hardship in his old age.”
It was bad enough that even Meursault pitied him?
“I almost died while searching for the Team Two members, so I’m not going to let this pass. Tell Father that I’ll handle the matter myself.”
“You aren’t going to tell him personally?”
“He’ll obviously tell me I’m not allowed because it’s too dangerous.”
Meursault suddenly began staring at me.
“...Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I was wondering how you could possibly be so insensitive and cold.”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“Haah...”
Meursault sighed, his lips trembling.
I had never seen him make an expression like this before, so I blinked in surprise.
Then he continued.
“Lord Haydam... I may not be your biological father, but ever since you appeared at the Commander’s residence, I have watched over you from a closer position than your actual father has. Naturally, I worry when you say you are going hunting. When you are shot, I regret that I could not take the bullet in your place. When I hear that you fell from a cliff and went missing, I become terrified out of my mind that something may have happened to you. You say His Excellency will obviously forbid you from doing something dangerous. Do you think I would not do the same?”
“M-Meursault...”
“But you won’t listen to me or His Excellency anyway, will you? You woke up after an entire week, and the first thing you did after coming to see me was ask what happened to the leader of Team Two...!”
It seemed Meursault had been deeply hurt.
Everything I knew about him came from the game, so I had assumed that to the sociopathic Meursault, who cared for no one except Daphne, I was merely an ally who could help with her divorce.
I had even pretended to understand him while talking about family, yet it had never occurred to me that he might regard me as family.
My parents had caused me plenty of worry, but I had never been the kind of child who worried them.
Yet somehow, I now felt like an unfilial child who had caused his parents endless heartache.
The Commander had also scolded me after I woke up in the hospital, but this felt different somehow.
“...I’m sorry, Meursault.”
“I did not say this because I wanted to hear an apology.”
“I can’t promise I’ll never do anything dangerous again. Sorry about that, too.”
“You call that an apology?”
Meursault glared at me, but after I apologized several more times, he seemed to calm down a little.
“But what exactly are you planning to use to threaten Anton?”
Perhaps embarrassed that he had unintentionally poured out all his emotions, Meursault abruptly changed the subject.
I generously pretended not to notice.
“Well, I don’t necessarily have to resolve it through threats. We could make a deal.”
“Whether it is a threat or a deal, I cannot imagine Anton going so far as to murder someone on your behalf.”
“I don’t need him to commit murder.”
At those words, Meursault looked puzzled.
“Then what do you need?”
“Anton’s role is to give them certainty.”
“Certainty about what?”
“Certainty that Lieutenant General Max isn’t the culprit. Certainty that Josef is.”
Meursault only looked increasingly confused.
“Didn’t you say evidence was unnecessary? Why do you need certainty?”
“Personally, I don’t care which of the two is guilty. But there are people who do.”
“Ah... the newly commissioned officers.”
Exactly.
The certainty wasn’t for me.
The Commander, Meursault, and I were all politically experienced enough to already know that Josef had probably been involved.
Lieutenant General Max had gained nothing from the incident.
But Bones and Lucas wouldn’t see it that way.
Bones in particular would live with the suspicion that Lieutenant General Max might truly have abandoned him unless we gave him certainty.
In front of everyone, we needed to make it clear that Lieutenant General Max had never cast Bones aside.
“But... why do we also need certainty that Josef is the culprit?”
“So we won’t feel uneasy when he dies.”
“Didn’t you say you weren’t going to have him murdered?”
“Right.”
“And you aren’t going to kill him personally, either.”
“Of course not.”
“Then how exactly are you planning to kill Josef?”
“People who commit crimes are usually struck down by divine punishment.”
“Pardon?”
I pointed toward the sky.
“You never know... maybe a bolt of lightning will strike him on the head.”
Or perhaps a player who was still inexperienced at controlling their supernatural ability might accidentally call down lightning directly on top of him.