My Death Flags Show No Sign Of Ending - Chapter 66
So, Chapter 66, I was going to post this tomorrow as per my schedule, but I’m in a very good mood today so here it is! 😀
And the next chapter, Chapter 67 is Availible on Patreon! If you’d like to donate, support my work, and get access to the chapters earlier as well, here is the Patreon Link!
Chapter 66
【”So you came to escort me?”】
【”Yeah. And it’s damn annoying.”】
Harold, who was forced to board on the ship despite his futile resistance, honestly told Erica about the circumstances that he didn’t necessarily have to hide.
Erica’s reaction upon finding out the truth was to deeply lower her head and apologize.
【”I am sorry for my elder brother’s selfishness.”】
【”If you were going to apologize, you should have taken hold of his reins from the get go.”】
Although even Harold himself felt that his mouth’s complaint was absurd, he did believe that if Erica could take control of Itsuki, his chances of meeting with her would decrease. So he wanted Erica to work hard at it, for the benefit of each-other’s mental health.
Well, that’s a matter for another time. Thinking that, Harold put his feelings back in order at once. And then, he addressed Erica.
【”So, that’s it? You didn’t do all this just so you could ask me about something that trivial, right?”】
【”…. Indeed. There is something I’d like you to confirm, Harold-sama.”】
【”Just keep in mind that I have no obligation to answer your questions.”】
From the questions he could expect, there was hardly any answer he could freely give out to her. Be it his current position, or the contents of his mission, he had to keep silent about basically everything when it came to the matters related to Justus.
【”Of course, it’s fine to just answer what you can, Harold-sama.”】
【”Mhm, just hurry and get this over with.”】
【”Thank you very much. Then, I’ll get right to the point. Why did you try to cancel your engagement with me at that time five years ago?”】
As she asked that, Erica lowered the volume of her voice. That was likely in order to avoid being overheard by the sailor.
But said sailor did not seem to have much interest in Harold and Erica as he was working hard at introducing Kablan. It seemed like he was only speaking because he was obliged to do it, rather than to inform the customers on board about the town. However, even though the man was doing his job halfheartedly, it was quite convenient for Harold.
【”Why ask about something that obvious?”】
【”Allow me to rephrase my question. Why did you do try to cancel it at that timing in particular?”】
That timing was when the decision of his execution was overturned and it had been decided that Harold was going to get transferred to Justus’ research establishment.
After the revision of his judgement, Harold directly confronted Tasuku, who was watching the trial, about the marriage cancellation. Though Tasuku had a sad expression on his face, he didn’t seem to be very surprised. He had probably prepared himself mentally as he knew from long ago that this day would come sooner or later.
Harold was very happy and surprised as he didn’t think that Tasuku would agree to break off the engagement, though he only did it indirectly.
Harold’s parents, Hayden and Jessica, who were together with Justus as the time, were greatly troubled. They were, of course, strongly opposed to the cancellation and they persistently tried to make Harold reconsider his choice, but he still insisted that he was not willing to get married with Erica.
Even now, Harold’s father, Hayden, was still regularly sending him letters to try and persuade him, but this was a decision Harold had made before he even met with Erica. He wasn’t going to change it now.
Incidentally, Harold had suggested the cancellation immediately after the end of the retrial, just before people left the tribunal.
He did that so as to make it known to the surroundings, and most importantly, to Justus, that he had broken off his link with the Sumeragi family.
Justus was the one responsible for the miasma outbreak that was still happening within the Sumeragi territory. If Harold was still on friendly terms with the Sumeragi after becoming affiliated with Justus, there was risk that the fact that he was the one who gave the medicine which limited the damage caused by the miasma would be exposed.
If that happened, then Justus would be suspicious about how Harold, who was ten years old at the time, and yet knew how to produce a medicine that could raise immunity to the miasma. Being under Justus’ suspicion while working for him would have been fatal.
With that being the case, Harold was really regretting not reminding the Sumeragis to keep the matters concerning the antibody-drug a secret, but it was too late for that. Although the information wasn’t made public, there were many people within the Sumeragis’ mansion, and among their relatives, who knew that Harold was the one who came up with the idea of the medicine. Additionally, Harold couldn’t deny he was afraid that Justus would dissect him out of curiosity, so as to find out how Harold was able to anticipate the range of the contamination on the map etc….
Harold wasn’t good enough with words to give a genius mad scientist a plausible explanation without contradicting himself, so all he could do was to crush the possibility of ever being questioned.
Well, long story short, he cancelled the engagement to protect himself. To begin with, in the game’s story, the original Harold was not assigned to work under Justus and the like. Originally, Harold, whose mind was burning for revenge over Liner’s and the others, who had defeated him twice, was taken advantage of by Justus, who gifted him a special medicine called『Astral potion』.
It was a doping item which, upon ingestion, amplified the magic within the user’s body, in other words, it amplified his astral body, therefore granting him an unusually potent power-up.
However, his body couldn’t keep up with the strengthening, and it swelled up, overtaken by its own power. By the end, it took on a grotesque shape that couldn’t be called human, and then, the original Harold lost his life as his own body broke down.
Though Harold could avoid all this by simply not taking the astral potion, there was a demerit that came with it, because Liner’s party would not gain the experience they’d have accumulated by fighting the boosted Harold. So he had no choice but to strengthen their equipment, and teach them the tactics that were effective in the game to raise their abilities and potential.
Putting that aside, the reason why Harold agreed to work under Justus despite that never happening in the game’s story was simply that it was his only way to survive. At any rate, Justus had suddenly appeared before Harold who was incarcerated and gave him two choices【”Would you rather be executed or work for me? If you come with me, I’ll give you more power. Well, you’ll probably go through hell though.”】.
Harold had no choice but to accept his proposal so as to survive. However, that choice he was given had an absurdly high sense of upending death upon it.
Helping Justus with his work meant lending him a hand for his ambitions. That would inevitably lead him to becoming Liner and the others’ enemy, and if things went well for Justus, it would cause the downfall of the world. Harold had also considered well enough whether he’d just end up as a throwaway piece for Justus.
Although the option Justus gave him was his only way to survive, it wasn’t simple to select it…. or rather, it shouldn’t have been simple.
Harold had been starting to forget about this but, that cynical mouth of his had other functions than automatically changing his words. That function had appeared only twice in the past, in addition, it was when Harold had just come to this world.
Said function simply made Harold repeat words from the original story’s character. Which meant that the lines the original Harold had spoken in the game would come out of Harold’s mouth. Though the time and setting were different from the original story’s, the situation where Justus gave power to Harold was the same as the game’s event.
After a loud laugh that took even Harold himself aback, his mouth went and said to Justus.
『Give me power and I’ll teach you what true hell is, bastard. 』
That was the brisk decision the original Harold had foolishly taken in the game.
And thus, in a completely unforeseen development, Harold became a henchman under the commands of the story’s last boss.
But no matter how unexpected this was, it was a good thing for Harold. Thanks to that, he could focus on the next route to take, and on his ongoing problems.
While reflecting upon those bitter memories, Harold answered Erica’s question.
【”That was because it was the best setting for me to cancel it.”】
【”You actually wanted to make it known to your surroundings that you’ve cut your ties with the Sumeragi family, right?”】
Her guess was dead on, it was as if Erica had read Harold’s mind.
That was impossible, but then, how had Erica reached that answer? Could it be that she knew something about Justus? Such doubts crossed Harold’s mind.
【”Well, I wonder about that.”】
Harold was careful so as not to carelessly bring up Justus’ name.
It was unlikely that Erica had laid her hands on information that even Elu couldn’t obtain.
Even if she somehow knew the true nature of Justus’ identity, she could only speculate on Harold’s intentions. Which meant that despite her earlier words, Erica had not seen through Harold’s aim, and her answer was just derived from her own point of view. But there was a higher probability that her words simply happened to be right by chance, and she actually didn’t know the deeper meaning behind them at all.
【”You went that far and ended up all alone for…”】
【”What’d you say?”】
【”Nothing, don’t mind me.”】
Harold was too deep in his thoughts and had missed the murmur which escaped from Erica’s mouth. He was interested but, judging from the blunt attitude Erica answered him with, she likely wouldn’t reply if he asked her to repeat herself again.
Well, in the future, rather than Erica…. Harold had better observe the Sumeragi family as a whole to check whether they were investigating Justus for something. Since Itsuki was the one who made the request for Harold’s mission, there was no way the Sumeragi family wasn’t acquainted with Justus to some extent.
As Harold had been under the impression that his link with the Sumeragis had been completely broken off, he had not considered at all the option that they would take action against Justus.
【”Was that all you wanted to confirm?”】
【”There is one more thing. Could you tell me to where the truth starts and ends in those rumors about you?”】
【”I have no interest for these detestable kinds of things. I don’t know about them so whether they’re true or not is none of my concern.”】
【”There is the one about you being a “knight killer” who slaughtered dozens of knights. Then there is the one that said you had a pact with a devil and that you could get riches by kidnapping children and selling them to him. And, also, the one about you dyeing your hands with every evil deed in existence, therefore completely mastering the path of evil. I guess there are other ones, but these are the main rumors circulating.”】
Harold had heard about every single one of these rumors. But hearing them again from someone else’s mouth was still considerably difficult.
Well, most of them were due to Justus dramatizing the facts.
Regarding the knight killing case, it was in the middle of one of Harold’s missions where he simply happened to encounter a group from the knight order that was attacked and almost exterminated by a herd of monsters. The group had about ten people in it, but when Harold arrived, more than half of them were already dead, and the others were on the verge of dying. The monsters had pretty much annihilated them and, in the end, there were only two people among the group who preserved their lives.
However, they both retired from the knight order immediately after that because of the remaining after-effects of their injuries.
As for the kidnappings rumors, it came from the times when Harold would take the orphans and juvenile vagrants that he happened to see in the slums and on battlefields, he would then leave some money and goods for them and take them to an orphanage that he deemed to be decent. Harold could count the number of times he did that on one hand so it shouldn’t have caught Justus’ eyes, and yet the matter was somehow still exposed to him. That made Harold realize all over again how terrifying Justus really was.
And that last thing, about him “mastering the path of evil”, was probably just an image people had of Harold after combining various rumors. Upon hearing of this, Justus had lamented;【”Oh come on, It’s too vague. They made it way too halfheartedly.”】so he likely had nothing to do with it. Harold found it extremely annoying that Justus was so devoted to ruining his reputation that he would lament over something like this.
Whenever he heard rumors about himself, Harold could not help thinking “If that had really happened, I’d have been arrested long ago, wouldn’t I?”.
Erica was probably able to realize that as well, but the fact that she asked about the rumors meant that she was likely still half in doubt. If that was the case, Harold was going to use this to make doubly sure that Erica’s evaluation of him was at rock bottom, but, if possible, he’d prefer it if she didn’t spread her hate within the hero’s party after joining Liner, lest this turn into a full-blow confrontation between him and Liner’s party.
He wanted the party to have just enough faith in him to accept his advice and information. If that turned out to be impossible, he’d have to do it via Elu.
【”Yes, this hand of mine is tainted with blood and sins. But, so what? The weak can only blame their foolish selves for turning into preys.”】
This answer was a massive lump of elitism. But even though things may have appeared this way, Harold had actually managed to control himself and held back the words “inferior species” from coming out of his mouth.
Harold looked at the palm of his right hand. This hand had wielded a sword which brought down monsters and humans alike, there was no denying that, but still, that didn’t mean Harold felt nothing from it.
【”Perhaps we can’t understand each other because our values differ too much, but….”】
Suddenly, Harold’s right hand felt warm, and was wrapped by a soft feeling. The heat then gradually spread.
The source of that warmth was actually Erica’s hands, which were grasping Harold’s right hand. Erica gently and lovingly held it close to her chest.
【”But, with this hand, you’ve protected my important people. That’s the undeniable truth. So, no matter how much of a sinner you are, I’m willing to accept you.”】
Harold could not allow himself to look away from Erica’s eyes which seemed so warm that they could pull him in.
He felt like his reason was ringing alarm bells to stop him from looking at Erica’s eyes any longer. Even so, as if he had been possessed, Harold unintentionally gripped Erica’s hand, and――.
【”Well, that’s probably what my brother would tell you. I mean, he likes you a lot after all.”】
As Erica said that, she released Harold’s right hand. The warmth in Harold’s hand went down as it was exposed to the air, and, at the same time, Harold regained his calm.
While a mischievous smile appeared on Erica’s face, Harold realized he had been tricked. He, who suddenly became embarrassed, turned his eyes towards another direction and folded his arms.
While listening to Erica’s discreet and yet cheerful laughter, Harold kept looking the other way, to hide his embarrassment, until the boat arrived at the dock.
perdidoenlapereza
Thanks for the chapter!
Yunchii
Darn that smile!!! I need my insulin!!! Sugar level is increasing at alarming rate!!!
Thanks for the chapter!!!
anon21
Thanks!
Rhipeen Rhosus
I want to punch him… now another complain: why does he have to stick to the original timeline when it has been destroyed obviously long time ago? And why the fuck couldn’t he make some of the things original protagonist did? (well now it’s obvious, since he got “traped”, but he could do that before) another reason I want to punch him…
fioret
That’s a good smile
( • ??•? )
kirindas
Thanks for the new chapter!
1_chan
Aww cute xD It’s an Erica x Harold moment I was waiting for~ Thanks for the chapter!
tredthslator
That picture. That. Picture.
I didn’t think I could ever feel like:
https://media.giphy.com/media/xUPGcIMvDbj9bFb5Cw/giphy.gif
T.A.
Thanks for your hardwork. That face is disturbing though, Erika.
Keaton
Thank you for the chapter! This and Release that Witch are my two favorite light novels.
SaMu
Thanks for the chapter. Darnittoheck! I was waiting for a “she slipped, he fell” moment between those two…
Just get together already jess..
Stop all this misunderstanding and just get together already fuu the world.. Erica and present is worth muuuch more :p
Rasta
Thank you for the chapter! How dare you say that sailor is doing a half-hearted job! He already did a fabulous job, setting you two up Also, that last par though. This ship is sailing! Well, it stagnated a bit when that’s Erica brought up Itsuki, even if he’s a great guy. But my one and only wish is that when Harold gets drunk, the “Harold speak” isn’t applied to him anymore, and his normal and nice (Well, compared to his normal speech) side to everyone.
Tha picture is kawaii though.
lazytl
the main wife is too much.
Dark Jackel
Now there’s a picture with complicated emotion… A blush, tears in her eyes, and a smile that’s really difficult to interpret… ?
Jhettra
Thanks for the chapter!
deras
get a room you two!
Thank you for the chapter!
violekyo
Erica-San. Really good work.
Candied Skull
Awww, keep playing your magic Erica! Make him fall for you! Teach him he isn’t alone!
This series is totally gonna turn into a load of people fighting FOR their beloved Harold, not really to save the world… The whole become strong to protect a person, not we have to become strong along the way…
stelvis
Erica is so pro!! Lying, telling the true xp
Ty for the chapter^^
ranobesuki
omg harold would you just speed things along here?
looking forward to seeing where this goes.
thanks and see ya later!
Milanin
Then there is the one that said you had a with a devil and that you could get riches by kidnapping children and selling them to him. “I had A with a devil once too” Absinthe in my case, probably a missed word like contract in his though.
Ehhhh-chan
Can we official open the Ericaism Cult?
Damn that was priceless.
darkm3d
Thanks for the chapter.=)
OllerusNight
Just hope Erica x Harold will ship until the end.
I have a sense of foreboding that the more Erica is close to Harold, the more she has many death flags.
Anyway, thx for the chap as always!
bry19an
Thanks for the chapter
hoshiandme
Did…. Erica just cockblock herself?
Hazery
Usually, many people will hate the relationship with the first introduced girl and will ship the main character with someone else…
Didn’t expect that this novel have the opposite effect, instead of shipping harold with other female member, we still keep shipping harold together with erica since the moment erica was inttoduced…
Man, i love this community!
tsunderehater
Meh….for me……for some reason…the mention of Erica pisses me off…..
I forvot….or msybe I wasnt paying attention…..what did she do again to look like a fucking megami in our MCs eye?
Atanaxia
Thanks for the chapter~~~!
gatekeeper
I’m a bit worried here… Erica doesn’t really hate Harold. And what would be the reason for her to join Liner’s party in the future?
Metroxylon
Thank you defiring.
Hope your good moods continue.
Get some ice cream!
Good moods makes ice cream taste more delicious.
If Justus is mentioned I feels the urge to ramble.
Why Erica?
Why you do that?
But good job Erica! You have done the right thing.
Harold’s or Kazuki’s sensibility are telling him to stop because it could danger his life.
Probably, the deepest part in his heart want to hold Erica right there and then, but unfortunately it seemingly will bring dead end. Erica has done the thing that will greatly ease Harold’s worries by playing it off and let their feeling goes unconfirmed.
If Harold’s or Kazuki’s wariness of Justus is blocking any of his progress it is entirely justifiable.
Justus should never be underestimated.
His every malicious action thus far is untraceable to him by any uninvolved parties and involved party will be driven crazy just by thinking of saying it.
His reaction to any thing that might curtail his progress are rightly calculated and greatly benefiting him. i.e. Harold acquiring, truth manipulation against Elu and Lifa, and rumors of Harold. Harold’s condition was made that Harold’s lifeline was hanging entirely on Justus.
His wittiness had even made an experienced information digger to take every bit of his attention to just stand his ground and prevent leaking any important info.
His preparedness is only shown slightly but it was immense. When Justus was talking about Harold’s past he said that a lot of coincidence made him able to meet Harold. What is coincidence if not deliberate preparation to always be benefited in every possible situation. It means, What kind of hell that will let loose by Justus’s death?
Harold had done enough underestimating Justus before. He should not done it again.
“Harold wasn’t good enough with words to give a genius mad scientist a plausible explanation without contradicting himself, so all he could do was to crush the possibility of ever being questioned.”
Imho, Justus is at the very least near the lower level of Instructor Nauran or Prof. Nicerwin in cunning. And if you know those names, you know the comparison means A LOT.
The Game designer probably wanted to make Justus a solidly dangerous and wholefuly intelligent character.
Harold’s action and wariness and also Kazuki’s liking the game is proof that they succeed to a some degree.
That is about my rambling. Sorry for taking your time. It is nice how the author can drives me on edge with just a reminder about Justus.
Be wary of Justus. Justus did not strike based only of his intention but also because of the opportunity. Be wary! Be wary!
Hoang Dinh
I want to contribute to this chapter ending since i feel its kinda lacking:
—
Harold could not allow himself to look away from Erica’s eyes which seemed so warm that they could pull him in.
He felt like his reason was ringing alarm bells to stop him from looking at Erica’s eyes any longer. Even so, as if he had been possessed, Harold unintentionally gripped Erica’s hand, and??.
?”Well, that’s probably what my brother would tell you. I mean, he likes you a lot after all.”?
As Erica said that, she released Harold’s right hand. The warmth in Harold’s hand went down as it was exposed to the air, while mischievous smile appeared on Erica’s face at the same time.
Harold, however, having been enchanted by her smiles, seemingly given up on thought as his body move by instinct, both his hand hold on to Erica cheek.
?”Ha-Harold-sama, wha-what are you doing ?”?
Erica flustered as she ask, she did not expect Harold to respond like this to her mischievous acts. Harold did not respond and he did not let Erica speak freely for long as he quickly seal her lips with his own. How long has they stay like that Erica can’t tell since her mind has been puzzled from the time Harold touched her. After sometime, Harold pull himself back while with smile on his face.
?”Looks like that manage to shut you up quite nicely”? – said Harold as he chuckle
?”That’s is not fair Harold-sama, doing something like that.”?
?”Shut up for a while would you.”?
Before letting Erica has a chance to recover, Harold pull her head onto his shoulder. Seeing Harold won’t be giving her a chance to speak, Erica given up as she lean onto Harold and close her eyes.
Noticing the changes in atmosphere, the sailor stop with his introduction, slowing down his speed as to let the couple enjoy their moment until the boat return to the dock.
—
At first i would like for this to be 100% Harold action but i feel letting Erica getting so puzzle that she cant do anything seem to be out of her character since all the development we seen recently.
Also please bear with the bad writing since i never am the average writer but after letting my imagination go wild, i cant just stay doing nothing.
Tabeleta
Is just me thinking that Justus isn’t really the “real” villain? Vincent too, maybe someone else is the real villain behind everything, and those got somehow manipulated?
If someone said that those rumours were created by ‘the world’ itself because Harold should originally be hated by everyone I would agree.
Dusty
Author-san, you tease …
THANKS
a lovelly smile~
Chronos5884
Thanks for the chapter!
Pffff, Erika, best girl!
roshamee
GOOD JOB ERICA !! MAKE A CRACK ON HAROLD STONED HEART LITTLE BY LITTLE MAKE HIM YOURS ..
anarchydev
I really had a scare when I saw that smile of hers.
Nerimaki
the ship~~boat~~ is sailing, also thanks for the chapter!
Harold
OMG ERICA IS SOOOOO CUTE
?*:.?.o(???)o.?.:*?
Naitmeir
Is he gonna die like lelouch in code geass??
Starting'To'get'very'triggered'as'of'now
This is actualy starting to fuck me off now!!! Just kiss already, ‘something?!
Nam-cchi
Imo, this erika really doesn’t deserve our mc. Harold mainly kazuki in a modern day standard of a good guy now in this otome world complimented by the uncontrollable arrogant body of Real Harold.. His good guy status is elevated into a kind guy. Now onto the point. Erika imo is nothing but a spoiled Selfish little brat who because of accidentally knowing harolds kind guy nature was showing his affection toward the mc mainly because of guilt of misunderstanding the mc + of her selfish desires and Because of acting all knowing despite not really understanding the mc’s circumstance. Overall her affection was nothing but the Fruit beared by her oujo ego And self fulfulling selfishness. I honestly think story could have been better without an erika but with an heroine who can accept the mc for what he is And who he was From before and after. And not because of guilt and selfish self fulfilling desires By knowing what he is now.
Just think the possiblity when this erika shit didn’t learn about the mc’s good deeds. I bet she was still scorning the mc over nothing and act all bitchy.
ladykattz
OMG Erica! My girl!! Fuck him up!!!
Icy
ALL THE WAY!
noob
I think this harlord just tsundere being…. im sure he is just say for himself…. but actually all his action for another sake… japans heart poor guy…. sense of justice
Ty 4 cahp
SSS
Teasing him is no good… and you should just used ‘switch’ here you know… that would have solved the problem…
Am. Ihsan
Mannnn.. Erika is such a teaser, they could had kiss right then and there xD
Daniel Cabeza
Were the pictures removed in this site, or only showed in the patreon?
Leen
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/d8/0d/39/d80d39ce2774151cd5bab156ec54f300–flag-signs.jpg
chipmunk
is no one gonna talk about how erica and harold’s relation isgoi g downhill amidst reveal of lisa as a possible love target
N.O.
I want to say this……can someone pls spoil me about harold:,(? I do not want to see him die early?
DreamNeko
The reason he keeps trying to push her away is because she is the healer of the hero’s party. What would happen if Liner gets injured or something while he is out dealing with monsters but Erika is not in the party because she is messing around with Harold?
Deiane
Obrigada pela tradução ??
The General Manager
Get a bed….
Duck
Goodest girl that ever gooded
Tsurgy
Erica just got a massive W, i love it.