I'll Retire After Saving the World

TL: SHW

Henry Lehman’s life was…

ordinary.

He was born in a small city in Germany. He spent his childhood in Germany as well. Around the time he started school, his father changed jobs, and Henry moved to the United States with him. That was the only thing in Henry Lehman’s life that could really be called unusual.

After that, well. He was a head taller than most kids his age, so he tried American football and even got fairly good results, but it never interested him enough to stick with it for long. He was good at studying too, but dropped out of college for much the same reason. He tried part-time jobs and even got hired at a repair shop, but he quit every one of them before long.

Even while their only son drifted from one thing to another, his parents left him alone, saying he had to learn to take care of himself. Henry Lehman liked that attitude of theirs. He got along well enough with his parents and called them every three or four months to see how they were doing. He would even go home and show his face during the holidays. Perhaps because Henry Lehman always appeared in a suit, neatly dressed, his parents assumed he had stopped wandering and settled into a respectable life, so they never asked for details.

Maybe it was because his life had been so ordinary that he went looking for something a little more stimulating….

‘That sounds like something a psychopath in a movie would say.’

Henry Lehman shook the water from his dripping hair.

Someone might say that Henry Lehman was similar to the murderers in movies, but Lehman himself, at least, did not think so.

Psychopathic killers in movies usually committed crimes for their own pleasure. But the human named Henry Lehman, or whatever he was, had not done what he did for simple pleasure. He had reasons that left him no other choice.

Besides, weren’t the crimes in movies usually bizarre acts that no sane person could understand? In that respect, Henry Lehman still observed basic human decency.

…At least, that was what the something called Henry Lehman thought.

“Ah, cold!”

The person hit by the droplets flying from Lehman’s hair jumped in surprise and made a great fuss. Henry Lehman stopped shaking his head, looked up, and grinned.

“Hey, Alex.”

He had received a Revelation, after all. It would be unfair to lump him in with psychopaths like that.

A red-haired boy dropped out of thin air. The boy had features delicate enough to be mistaken for a girl at first glance. He staggered for only a moment before quickly catching his balance and smiling at Lehman.

“Hey, cute little toe.”

Lehman stopped at the unfamiliar nickname.

“Toe?”

“It’s a thing.”

The boy, Alex Hope, casually wiped the droplets from the back of his hand onto his clothes.

Hope brought his dry hand to his nose and sniffed it a few times, then raised his head with a look that said it did not really matter.

“Huh. Cutie, didn’t you usually have music playing?”

Hope narrowed his eyes as he looked around Lehman’s room. An old armchair, a cup resting on top of a stack of books, papers covering an entire wall.

“You’re still living in a mess.”

Hope’s gaze stopped at one spot as he surveyed the room. At the end of his gaze was a stereo smashed to pieces.

“Noah stopped by, huh?”

“Noah said it was too loud and smashed it before leaving.”

Hope and Lehman spoke at the same time.

They both fell silent for a moment and stared at the shattered stereo, then threw their heads back and burst out laughing.

“That’s Noah for you. Noah’s seemed pretty on edge since Sem died.”

“Alex, isn’t that because you’ve been getting on Noah’s nerves?”

“That too.”

Hope grinned mischievously.

“But Noah was the one who got greedy over Sem. Wasn’t Noah? Or did Sem go on a rampage all on his own….”

“I wouldn’t know either.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“…….”

Hope fell quiet for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, then started laughing.

“Whether Noah’s in a bad mood or not, what does it have to do with me? If Noah hates it, all the better for me.”

“You really hate Noah, don’t you, Alex?”

“I don’t like people who order me around and tell me what to do.”

“For someone who says that, you seem to get along pretty well with the other humans in the Guild.”

When Lehman pointed out what was, in a way, an obvious fact, Hope frowned as though offended.

“Do you think I’m that stupid? I know when I have to put up with things too. If I want to get along with other humans as a human, I at least have to know how to pretend.”

“Is that what your human taught you, Alex? They taught you something pretty useful.”

It was also something that would have driven Noah Michel up the wall if she had heard it.

“Then why not with Noah? You were told to get along with Noah too.”

“Why should I get along with someone who pretends to listen to me to my face while staying busy trying to kill me behind my back?”

Hope snorted and shook his head.

“Remember this, Henry. In front of a Fairy.”

“Lies don’t work?”

“If you want to lie, what you show on the outside has to match what’s inside. If they’re different, there’s a good chance the Fairy will notice.”

“Hmm.”

“Anyway!”

Hope raised his voice to bring the conversation back on track.

“What did Noah say?”

“Noah? Nothing much. Noah said that if Alex, Alex Hope, was beside Hong Seok-young, I had to make sure I killed you first, and after that it didn’t matter whether I lived or died.”

Hope’s mouth fell open.

“Aaah, and you call that nothing much? Henry, you’re weird for a human too.”

The only one who still called him human was Hope, who could hardly be called entirely human himself.

Lehman found the irony funny, so he often found himself chuckling whenever he looked at Hope.

When Lehman merely smiled this time as well, Hope quickly stopped whining and pouted.

“That’s Noah for you. We were told not to fight among ourselves, but Noah doesn’t even bother pretending to listen.”

“Going to tattle?”

“No way. I don’t want to go in there. It’s not like I can get in easily, either.”

“For you, Alex, sneaking in should be easy.”

“I need to keep a low profile for a while.”

It was the first time Lehman had ever heard Hope say something like that. Lehman was fairly surprised, but he did not show it. Given Hope’s personality, a little gentle prodding would easily get him talking. If it were truly important enough that it had to stay secret, Hope would never have brought it up in the first place. Lehman had known Hope long enough to understand that much.

Hope changed the subject so quickly that it almost felt urgent. Even so, it was obvious that he did not want to talk about it.

Lehman played along as though he had noticed nothing.

Well, regardless, shouldn’t the esteemed Fairy always be kept in a good mood? Any information that happened to fall into his lap was just a little bonus.

“So you said you’d do it?”

“Well.”

Lehman shrugged.

“I said I’d try. Honestly, how am I supposed to make a move with Hong Seok-young right there? Even if I somehow handled Hong Seok-young… Alex, you’re not exactly going to let me kill you without a fight.”

“Of course not.”

“But if you’re asking me this… are you really planning to come with Hong Seok-young? Did you side with that human?”

“Not so much sided with him as… Noah keeps bothering me. I’m just going to teach Noah a little lesson.”

“Why come to Henry if you’re trying to teach Noah a lesson?”

“Good question.”

“…….”

“…….”

Lehman stared at Hope without blinking. Unlike Noah Michel, who had looked away first, Hope did not avert his gaze.

Instead, Hope’s eyes curved as he smiled sweetly.

“Henry, I do find you cute, but… I’m not planning to let everything you do slide forever.”

“Aha.”

“Our San, my human, said there’s a strange rumor going around here.”

“A rumor?”

“Something about what the boss of a certain organization that controls South America’s black market looks like.”

“Ah. That.”

“Yeah. That.”

Hope and Lehman looked each other in the eyes and smiled brightly.

Lehman was the first to stop smiling. As though his cheerful grin had never existed, he wiped every expression from his face and stood still.

“Cutie. I’m trying to screw Noah over too, so I pretended not to notice no matter what you did…. But that was because you left me out of it.”

“……”

“You shouldn’t have dragged me into it. Or you should at least have done it without making it obvious. What were you hoping to accomplish by involving me?”

Hope drew out the end of the question as if demanding an answer. But apparently he had no intention of actually hearing Lehman out, because the moment Lehman tried to speak, Hope reached out and covered his mouth.

Compared to Lehman’s build, the hand was impossibly small and delicate. Would the wrist snap if he twisted it? It would have, if the person in front of him had been an ordinary human.

Lehman met those glowing golden eyes. Every hair on his body stood on end. If he moved, he would die. He might die. No, he had no intention of going down easily. It was only natural for the weak to die, but he could not simply give up without even resisting. He had a trump card of his own….

“Henry.”

Hope’s voice cut through his thoughts. It was still affectionate, tinged with coy sweetness, and utterly indifferent beneath it all.

“If you want to live, you’ll have to come at me for real. I’m planning to rile Hong Seok-young up and get him to kill you.”

“……That’s.”

His voice trembled pathetically. Lehman forced himself to clear his throat.

“Ahem, that’s, against orders.”

“Oh, come on. When did I say I was going to kill you? Hong Seok-young will do it.”

Seeing Hope’s radiant smile sent Lehman’s thoughts racing in another direction. The name Hong Seok-young sounded strangely familiar coming from Hope’s mouth.

‘No matter how crazy a Fairy he is, there’s no way he revealed his true identity….’

Was the human who had supposedly gotten a job at Hong Seok-young’s Guild really that capable? Capable enough that Hong Seok-young would listen to an acquaintance of a Guild member.

“So you understand what I’m saying, right, Henry? If you’re planning to kill me…. Try as hard as you possibly can before Hong Seok-young kills you.”

***

“Seriously.”

Hope lay on the bed, flailing his arms and legs.

“I can’t exactly talk, since I’ve had a hand in it too….”

All three humans who could be called key figures in Ark were trying to kill one another.

Was this all right? Was this really all right?

“How could anything possibly run properly like this….”

Well, to be fair, Hope had secretly screwed up plenty of things behind Noah’s back. If one traced it back, the Research Lab had been moved to Northeast Asia because of something Hope had done, and there were plenty of other things besides.

Having grown up in Magic Society from childhood, Michel was accustomed to things going the way she said they would. Hope and Lehman had exploited that blind spot.

From the moment Hope decided to live as a human, there had been no way for him to coexist with Michel’s intentions. Lehman could accept Michel’s grand cause, but he disliked the way she went about achieving it.

“If Hong Seok-young lands the finishing blow here….”

Would he get to see Noah keel over?

Hope grinned, then suddenly sat up.

As Hope hurried out of the room, small clusters of light moved aside to clear a path for him. The brilliant, multicolored lights slowly followed behind him after he passed.

Hope turned back at the door and stroked the light with one finger.

“Poor things.”

Back when everything had still been whole, the lesson bestowed upon Hope had been power. Those who possessed power ruled the world.

“But what could defeated soldiers possibly do?”

Hope hummed to himself as he left the room.

The human guarding the door looked at Hope. Hope beamed and waved.

“Good morning!”

May this pitiful race survive.

***

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