-Your real name is Mitsurugi Sora. This is also correct, right?

I was asked by the Pope and opened my eyes wide. I never expected the name of Mitsurugi to come up in this place.

I didn’t know her true intention, but she had deliberately cleared the people and asked me this question, which meant that she had a lot of confidence in my identity. In that case, there was no point in denying or hiding it.

There was a possibility that she was trying to trap me, but then I had to make her aim clear. In other words, I had to confirm how the Pope would act when she knew that I was Mitsurugi Sora.

I made that judgment and opened my mouth.

“Yes, Your Holiness. I am indeed Mitsurugi Sora. I have been disowned, so I cannot publicly use my family name.”

When she heard that, the Pope frowned slightly, but clearly. She squeezed her eyebrows.

“The Mitsurugi Sora I know is a person who was unable to be the heir of Mitsurugi due to lack of power, and was expelled from the family. That person was the same person as the hero of this era who achieved the feat of killing a dragon. I cannot help but be concerned about that.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

I asked back, not understanding the meaning.

To begin with, I had a question as to why the Pope knew about my situation, but I didn’t ask about it. The Cornelius family, the Pope’s birth family, had a close relationship with the Paradise family of Lady Emma and the Azurite family of Ayaka. And there was also a temple of Law on Demon Island. I guessed that she had heard something from one of those lines.

“The Mitsurugi family has a unique position and exceptional military power in the Adoastera Empire. It is not an exaggeration to say that there is a country within a country. If the Mitsurugi family shows its own movement outside the island, and outside the empire, the Holy Kingdom and the Law God Church cannot sit idly by.”

“Even if you say your own movement, I was just disowned by the Mitsurugi family and drifted to Ishka…”

“I am saying that there is a possibility that you are lying and that you and the Mitsurugi family are conspiring.”

“-Conspiring, did you say?”

I unknowingly put anger in my voice. I didn’t want her to joke about me and the Mitsurugi family conspiring.

The Pope must have noticed my anger. However, there was no sign of agitation in her emerald eyes, and the words she spun next were calm.

“As a simple fact, the blood that flows in you, the sword that you wield, are those of the Mitsurugi family. I saw a part of it in the battle just now.”

“Hmm”

I had just buried the skeleton with my soul equipment and kei technique.

Sure enough, the soul equipment was a secret technique of the Phantom Blade Style. And even if I changed the name of my kei technique, it was a fact that it was based on the Mitsurugi family’s technique.

And it was also a fact that I was the child of Mitsurugi Shikibu and Mitsurugi Shizuya. No matter how much I claimed to be disowned, from the outside, I was unmistakably a person of the Mitsurugi family – that’s probably what the Pope wanted to say.

Seeing that I understood her expression, the Pope slowly continued her words.

“You have made a name for yourself in a country other than the empire. Your fame is heard throughout Canaria, and I hear that there are many people who admire you. Among them, there must be knights and nobles of this country. Your influence now rivals that of kings and nobles, as you have killed a dragon.”

As she said that, the Pope let out a small breath.

And then she repeated the same words as before.

“I cannot help but be concerned about the fact that you, who have inherited the blood of the Mitsurugi family and use the techniques of the Mitsurugi family, have gained such a position in Canaria Kingdom.”

“…You mean to say that the Mitsurugi family is using me to expand their influence outside the country.”

“Yes. The fact that you, who were supposed to be expelled because of your weakness, became a dragon slayer in just five years, is the basis for that.”

The Pope’s suspicion was summed up as “Mitsurugi Sora originally had enough power, and he pretended to be disowned and left the island to expand the Mitsurugi family’s influence outside the empire.”

It goes without saying that this suspicion is unfounded.

However, I think it can’t be helped that people have such suspicions. It’s a bit of a stretch to say this myself, but it’s a kind of tall tale that someone who couldn’t fight a single match against a Dragon Fang soldier grew up enough to kill a dragon in just five years. The conspiracy theory is more credible than that.

Hmm, he crossed his arms and pondered.

I never thought of it myself, because the premise that I was conspiring with the Mitsurugi family was too absurd – but I see, there is such a way of thinking. To be honest, it was an eye-opener. The Mitsurugi family, which handles secret martial arts and aims to “neither invade nor be invaded” in inter-state conflicts. If the Mitsurugi family wanted to expand their power, there would be no better way than this.

Of course, from my point of view, it’s a false accusation, a quibble. But it’s hard to make others believe that. In that sense, the Pope’s suspicion was troublesome.

As I thought about it and made a sour face, the girl in front of me relaxed her expression.

“I think it’s an unpleasant suspicion for you. I haven’t known you for long since I met you, but there are things I can tell. You are surely someone who can jump into the fire for someone important to you. I saw you challenge the Immortal King to protect your comrades, and I was convinced of that. You don’t have any ambition to fatten up the Mitsurugi family.”

But there are elements that make you suspect that. The Pope continued.

There would be no problem if I were just a dragon slayer. There would be no problem if I were just Mitsurugi Sora. But when the two overlap, my existence can become a spark that shakes countries, she said.

“For example, suppose someone in this country sees your existence as a threat and tries to eliminate you on the grounds that you are a member of the Mitsurugi family. For that person, the existence or absence of conspiracy is not important. As long as there is a pretext for expelling you, that’s enough.”

Whether or not I am really connected to the Mitsurugi family is irrelevant, the Pope suggests that there are people who will use it as an excuse.

There are quite a few people who dislike my existence. A recent example would be the crown prince, who thinks I took Claudia away from him. There may also be nobles who are wary of the connection between me, the dragon slayer, and the Dragnaut ducal family.

Such people could argue that “he is a spy for the Mitsurugi family or the empire, and we cannot leave him in this country”. That was a plausible thing to happen.

I just thought of it, but the Mitsurugi family could use this too. They deliberately leak my identity to the Canaria Kingdom and take away my place to return. If I move to another country other than Canaria, they will do the same thing there. They will repeat this to make me realize that there is no place for a user of Phantom Blade Style to live peacefully except for Demon Island.

I don’t think everything was settled by the previous return home. Sooner or later, the Mitsurugi family will show some movement against me, who killed the demon god. I should have considered that it could take the form of a conspiracy.

Thinking about it this way, as the Pope said, I am a human being who can become a spark of conflict. And if the Canaria Kingdom and Adoastera Empire are disturbed by me as a cause, the Holy Kingdom, which borders both countries, will also be affected. There will also be many followers of the Temple of Law who will suffer because of the turmoil.

The Pope, who is the leader of the Holy Kingdom and the Temple of Law, naturally cannot help but be apprehensive about Mitsurugi Sora.

I’m not sure if the Pope’s words are a warning or an advice, but I’ll honestly thank her for telling me a perspective I didn’t notice. That’s what I thought and thanked the Pope.

◆◆◆

Even after Mitsurugi Sora left the room, Noah did not leave her seat for a while. Her gaze was directed at the chair where Sora had been sitting until a moment ago.

In the conversation just now, Noah did not reveal all of her inner thoughts. Rather, what she said was only a fraction of the whole.

In the empty room, Noah repeated a phrase of what she had said to Sora earlier. Including the true feelings she had hidden.

“You are surely someone who can jump into the fire for the sake of someone important to you. And someone who can make the world your enemy for the sake of someone important to you. Seeing you being adored by the Kijin girl, I was convinced of that.”

When Sora and his friends returned from Titis Forest, one of the two girls who greeted them was a Kijin. It was obvious to anyone that the Kijin girl was fond of Sora, and that fact had a great impact on Noah.

A person from the Mitsurugi family was adored by a Kijin. Noah knew how impossible that was.

As an individual, Noah liked the way Sora was. But as a ruler, Noah felt that the way Sora was was terrifying.

If you are the leader of an organization, you sometimes have to sacrifice the small for the sake of the large. If in the future, the Law God Church or the Holy Kingdom makes that decision, and Sora or someone important to Sora is on the side of the “small”, Sora will bravely stand up and bare his fangs at the “large”.

And Noah can’t stop him.

Because Sora is a dragon slayer. How can she stop a human who can’t even be stopped by a dragon?

To avoid such a situation, she must not include Sora and those around him in the side of the small. But Noah doesn’t know what or who Sora values.

So she has to find out. What kind of person Mitsurugi Sora is.

After a while, Noah, who had sorted out her thoughts, slowly stood up.

In her right eye, a deep green light that suggested depth of thought was blinking dazzlingly.