Erica is under barometric pressure by the look of strong determination. I can't be serious about what Zen thought and said the word.
But Erica was also driven by a similar impatience to the obsessive notion that if she didn't just intuitively get on his invitation now, she would eventually have great regrets.
"Okay. Which way should I go?
"Come here."
Stand in front of a room where Zen returns his heel and is a sure foothold to guide him to the place.
Where Zen chose to deserve to tell the truth. That 's--
"Here it is!
It was Harold's own room.
"... to?
A distracted voice leaks that I never accidentally put out to unfold. Erica was so confused that she also blew her room to be ashamed of it.
I was wondering if it would reveal some circumstance Harold was laying low on regarding the murder of his servant, that is, his secret, based on the course of earlier stories.
I wonder what it would be like to do that in the person's room where you keep it a secret on purpose. Maybe I was making a fatal mistake in my conversation with Zen.
But where the hell is that, like what? and Erica's thoughts extremes confusion.
"Come on in."
"Huh? Oh, hey..."
Poking Erica's void, where the confusion cannot subside, Zen pushes her little back into the room. Harold's absence has already been confirmed, so I have no hesitation.
Zen looked around the room and opened the closet that caught his eye, pushing in Erica, who had not arrived at the situation anymore.
"Sorry! Please wait here for a moment!
With the closet closed, Zen tries to leave the room on a run.
"Yep...?
A voice leaked out of Erica's mouth that I didn't think was mine again.
The Lord's guests, which also trap people in positions such as fiancées, have already crossed the line of disrespect. If people are people, you won't be able to complain about being killed.
Fortunately, Erica doesn't take so harsh a way to express her anger, but she still has to think commonsense and just make an offer to this beating. but now it wasn't the other way around.
The first priority should be to get out of this room as soon as possible.
If you try Erica, you are a total unwillingly intruder. It's not what Harold figured out if he found out.
The moment I laid my hand on the closet door to chase Zen, the sound of a ruthless chatter reached Erica's ear.
"Wow!
What then arrives is a surprising Zen scream. I can't help but be surprised because the lord of the room is back at exactly the time I tried to open the door now.
Harold looks at me when I hear him scream like that.
"Don't make a deaf voice. I mean, what are you doing in my room?
"Yes, hey... Actually, there was something I wanted to tell you to Mr. Harold, but I didn't respond when I knocked, so I looked inside."
"If you don't respond, pull back very hard. How stupid are you?"
Erica peeks into the room from the gaps in the blinds provided in the closet. I totally lost my chance to get out.
If we represent and interpret ourselves here, we will still have a say. But what happens to Zen?
People are like killing people just because they don't like it. I want to avoid him dying even if he deserves it.
But whether Harold will accept Erica's appeal for help. That seemed unlikely in view of what he said and did.
(What can I do......?
Things are getting worse and worse within Erica's inability to make a decision.
"So here's what I want to tell you!
Zen forcefully returns to the subject. In contrast, Harold sits on the couch when he sighs like a shudder.
And surprisingly for Erica, Harold encouraged the story to continue.
"What is it? Get it over with."
"Well, it's very hard to say, but the rumors of the example are quite widespread..."
Rumors of the example, Zen clouds the words, but what it refers to is obvious to the human being here.
"I've been buying out in the city earlier, but shopkeepers and customers ask me all about digging for roots and leaves."
……
Harold arms up and listens to Zen with his eyes closed.
Erica in the closet was also listening without knowing what he was trying to say.
"I didn't say anything, but it's because I didn't, Harold's ratings are falling to the ground, and I don't think it's a good idea if we don't do something about it..."
"I won't let you down if you wonder what I'm going to say. I mean, it would have just collapsed and been muddy."
"But..."
"But what? You said," Clara and Colette are still alive after falling to Brousch Village. "
"No way! I will not speak of that fact when I die."
(- Huh?)
Erica's head stains bright white after listening to the exchange between the two of them.
What did Harold say? A servant and his daughter, Clara and Colette, are alive?
What did Zen say? That's the truth?
The shock outweighs last night's murder confession. All Erica can do is listen to the two people without making them microscopic with their thoughts and bodies frozen.
"Then don't think about meaningless things. My parents will suspect me in case they find out they're alive. It's up to you to rule out that possibility completely."
"I know that, but why don't you at least tell Erica the truth? I was so depressed because I believed the rumors."
Absolutely not.
Clear rejection.
If your voice had a temperature, that would definitely be freezing. Zen's, and Erica's spine freezes in an instant.
"... why, is it?
Mouth questions Zen can't contain.
Why does Harold reject Erica so much? That's because Harold considers Erica to be, in a sense, the most alarming person in this' Brave Hearts' world.
The character Erica is characterized by kindness. However, it is preceded by "going too far”.
The original Harold was a mass of electorate consciousness that he was special and allowed to do anything else for humans. So he killed his servant in peace, discriminated against and abused powerless folk grass, and even turned the town into a whole sea of fire to make a sacrifice to monsters in order to survive himself.
On top of all that treachery and outrage, Erica was distressed by Harold's disgust but not limited to being her fiancée.
The reason for this was that he felt obliged to provide financial support from the Stokes family. Normally, I think it would go around with the risk of dishonorable family names, such as connections to Stokes, but that would still be a convenience for a game scenario that would boost Erica's event.
And this foolishly pushed through and set kindness threatens to strip Harold of his fangs from now on.
First of all, as a big premise, Harold's goal is to survive without dying. Avoidance of the death flag and clearance of the original scenario are what we believe is necessary for this purpose.
The former need not even be explained. What is the reason for the latter, then, is that almost all humans on the continent, including Harold, will die if Lasbos fails to defeat them.
It's not definitive, but it's highly likely from the information in the game. Either way, if we can't stop Russ Boss' rampage, the only continent in the world will sink, that was the story.
I mean, even if I dodged the death flag, I was too dissociated from the original to defeat the boss, then it doesn't make sense.
The protagonists need to clear the scenario, even if it isn't, and Erica is a valuable healer in the protagonist party. Without her, the difficulty of the offense changes.
Erica will have trouble even for Harold because she will be heavily involved in the survival rate if she doesn't absolutely get to be one of the main characters.
Furthermore, there is also a pale hope that if the scenario is cleared as it was originally written, it will return to the original world. I mean, that's all I can think of when it comes to returning to the original world.
Returning here to what would happen if Erica, who could not abandon even the original Harold until critical, acquired general common sense and conscience and even saw Harold reach out to the plight of the Smeragi family.
It's an assumption I don't want to imagine, but I might actively accept the engagement. Well, that's still good.
But what if it doesn't make you one of the main characters? That's what Harold fears.
So Harold, who can't take the bad road to avoid the death flag, thought it would be less risky for Erica to hate him all over the place. You can assure me that you can eat shit like that from her.
It would be a little easier if I could explain it that way, but it would be nasty to be suspicious of my head condition. We decided to make up the right reasons to discourage the pursuit.
Harold speaks out after breaking a long silence.
"... He was crying"
"Huh?"
"I don't know if it's about the fact that I killed people, or if you think about the parents and children that I killed. But either way, he broke his heart and wept for others. I just think you're stupid."
Memories of last night to resuscitate. Erica's cheeks, lit by the moonlight, were firmly engraved with a glimmer of tears.
It's so troublesome that I can't help it, but I guess that's certainly Erica's virtue.
"And he's too kind at the same time. That's also the tenderness of the weak who can only pity their opponents. If a guy like that tries to walk with me, he's gonna have a wound he can't count."
"Is that why you're deliberately turning away? Think for Erica..."
"Don't let it get out of your way. Why should I think for him? I only wish to marry a troublesome woman who cries every time."
Harold's words pierce Erica's chest deeply. Very sharp, but a different pain than last night.
Conscience blame, self-loathing, regret.
Negative emotions boil out one after the other and try to swallow Erica. Neither the wave of emotions nor Harold's words will stop.
"Oh no... isn't Harold willing to marry Erica?
"There can't be."
"Then why are we talking about engagement..."
"Bite it down so even your head can understand, this is an engagement I bought with gold."
Bloodthirsty Stokes entered the Smeragi family, whose revenues in forestry, which was the backbone of the economy, were significantly depressed by an abnormal outbreak of anger in the forest.
Can Smeragi just recover from an unprecedented disaster in all of the continent: an abnormal outbreak of temper, or can he repay the money he borrowed by fulfilling it? It is the result of the Stokes going to sell their thanks without thinking later, as the country and other lords stepped on massive financial assistance in these various circumstances.
I realized that there was Zen who knew the thoughts and circumstances of both houses.
"Then breaking an engagement would be fatal for the Smeragi family, wouldn't it?
Surely Zen is right. If Harold unilaterally breaks his engagement and loses his financial support, Smeragi territory will cease to stand in the near future. Well, even if Harold wastes time, his parents who are obsessed with lineage won't admit to breaking his engagement.
But Harold is not going to get flirted with it or anything.
"I've already hit my hand. Antibodies and LP farming for that matter."
If the contamination caused by air is low, the deforestation can be carried out as before by taking that medicine. The temper will gradually expand the range until the hero's flavor is resolved, but in other words, it shouldn't extend beyond the game.
The letter to the task also digs up the map of the game from memory and rewards it with the expected maximum contamination range. Smeragi would also be able to draw defensive lines if the maximum damage could be assumed in advance.
In addition, it intends to provide expertise in LP farming methods. That said, I retained it in the letter with the frivolous expression "I am also considering the provision of industrial technology" because I have not yet taken up the prospect of doing so.
The game knowledge was missed, and Zen leaked the potpourri as if he had been taken aback.
"Did you even think about that..."
Zen can only be surprised that it was his first ear about antibody drugs and letters and that such thoughts were hidden in LP farming methods as well. How much further is this boy looking to the future?
And Zen isn't the only one who's surprised. Erica, who was lurking in her breath, was also shocked by Harold's foresight and depth of thought.
Harold was aware of the Smeragi crisis beforehand. That's before we talk about engagement or anything, right after the outburst.
If I think about it, I can also convince you that it was possible to get all the information you need on that drug even a few days after you decided to get engaged.
That means Harold was doing everything he could to save Smeragi, who should have been completely irrelevant. He would argue that it was something he did to sell thanks, but there are few benefits to saving the Smeragi family if you weigh the money and labor time it would take to develop the drug. It wouldn't be pureblood from what we talked about. It's a shame for Harold.
To that devotion, Erica's vision seeps into his thoughts.
To be honest, this neighborhood was a pretty troubled final decision, even as Harold.
It is obvious that Erica would feel more beneficial than the original if she were known to be providing this much support. Then why did you take an action that wasn't in the original, because you wanted a patron?
The Stokes can't help but gather the people to take action where they can't move freely.
So Harold thought about using the cover-up of his fiancée to make contact with the Smeraggi family. I saw that if you were familiar with the character of the task in the game, you could trust it. It would also be easier to support the protagonists from the shadows if his cooperation was obtained, with love, understanding and connections.
Providing antibodies drugs delays industrial cooling, moisturizes the economy with LP farming methods, and forestry also recovers if the protagonist cleans up the event of disability build-up. That way, without the Stokes' support, territorial management would be no longer a problem and there would be no pain in destroying Erica's engagement.
Besides, I wrote in that letter that I could offer Harold to destroy it.
(It's just a “Eun” parade full of counting roles. I don't feel half pushy, but I even have to ask you a unscrupulous favor. If you're on a task, you'll help me with most things)
That's not confidence, it's certainty.
There was only one concern. It would be classified as an "unscrupulous favor”. The concern is also related to Zen in front of me, and I keep warning him.
"Oh, and then you figure out how to shake yourself, too."
"What do you mean?
Harold further reduces the amount of voice he was adjusting to not be heard outside the room. The voice was to the point where Erica, lurking in the closet, could barely be heard.
"As I said before, the Stokes are in danger of falling apart in the near future. If you don't like being unemployed, you'd better be prepared."
"But aren't we going to spread the LP farming method to prevent that?
"Unless we do something about the current heavy taxes and scattering, it's only going to be about stretching ahead. I spin my hand too, but it doesn't always work. I'm not going to mediate with you, so do something for yourself."
Zen, who always seems to be able to weather, can also fall for this.
There's something wrong with Harold speaking like he deserved.
"What happens to people in Stokes territory if that happens?
"I don't know. But Task Smeragi wouldn't do anything wrong."
Various tones. But as Erica, I couldn't miss hearing it. The name came up.
(Why is your father here...?
"Uh... what do you mean?
"I am pleading with the Smeragi side not to allow the residents to be treated unfairly if the Stokes family fades into the letter. I can't live without laughing at the fragility."
When it comes to pleading, it doesn't mean that you want Smeragi to feed you. If Smeragi is close to the royal family, he expects some spokesmanship and support.
I don't know if you'll accept this “favor," so I can say I oversold it.
(Perhaps it will be the territory of other aristocrats, and let's hope there are more decent people to come now)
Though I will no longer be in this land by then. I was willing to throw a round at my successor.
"Anyway, that's why. You can't have broken a wordless ban."
"Well, I know. I didn't tell anyone...?
Zen's voice trembles as he is ejected by Harold's sharp eyes. Harold didn't realize at this time that there were other reasons for that trembling, and Zen's rhetoric that I didn't say.
Well, even though it was too late to notice the presence of Erica, the natural enemy lurking in the closet here.