When I Was Reincarnated, All the Heroines Were Stolen by the Fake Hero ~ The Guy Who Dominated With Original Story Knowledge, and Me Who Dominated With Talent. It Seems the World After the Ending Is My One-Man Stage ~ - Episode 66

Episode 66

After seeing off the inspection team, I headed back to the mansion with Nergo.

On the way to Kanaloa to borrow a horse for him, I suddenly remembered how I had first met Svea.

She was originally an assassin belonging to a certain heretical cult.

Her target had been none other than the hero—Nergo.

However, Nergo quickly turned the tables on her. And rather than finishing her off, he captured her alive.

Even though she stubbornly refused to talk, Nergo dealt with her with surprising patience. He urged her to speak honestly about her past.

Eventually, Svea opened up.

As a child, she had been taken by the cult because of her extraordinary skill with a bow.

A special curse had been placed on her. It made her feel unbearable pain if she disobeyed orders. She had lived a hellish existence.

After hearing her story, Nergo extracted the location of the cult’s hideout from her.

That very day, he stormed the place alone and massacred the entire group.

With that, Svea’s curse was broken. And she was finally freed.

Since then, Svea began secretly following Nergo.

Every now and then, she’d appear unexpectedly and support our journey from the shadows.

Though she seemed capricious, it was probably her own way of repaying her debt.

—

After we finished preparing the horses, Nergo and I rode slowly toward the mansion as evening fell.

We let the horses walk at a relaxed pace and reminisced over silly old memories.

“…So, because you got cocky, we ended up losing all our money and had to sleep outdoors.”

“Can’t be helped! That gambling den had a fixed pattern for the first five rounds. And ending it on the sixth was the most efficient, you know?”

“That from your game knowledge too?”

I asked with a small laugh. Nergo clicked his tongue and looked up at the sky with a sour expression.

“Yeah, it is. Tch… if only I’d won there, we could’ve gotten way ahead.”

Looking back now, that baseless confidence of Nergo’s must have come entirely from his game knowledge.

Strangely enough, though, that confidence had given me courage many times.

If Nergo says it’ll be fine, then it must be… That’s what I truly believed, somewhere deep inside.

—

After a moment of silence, Nergo suddenly stopped his horse.

Then slowly turned back to look at the path we’d come from.

“What’s wrong?”

I asked. But Nergo said nothing.

The atmosphere around him suddenly turned tense and sharp.

Sensing something off, I stopped my horse as well.

In that instant—

I felt an intense, piercing bloodlust.

Without thinking, I leapt off my horse.

A dull pain shot through my body as I hit the ground.

My startled horse neighed and ran off into the distance.

But more than that, I couldn’t take my eyes off the source of the bloodlust.

Up ahead—

Nergo was still mounted on his horse. He was holding a dagger in a reverse grip. He was silhouetted by the setting sun.

No way…

Even as that thought crossed my mind, my senses were telling me without a doubt—

this murderous intent was coming from him.

I slowly got to my feet. I was keeping my eyes on the man radiating this killing intent. I then forced out a voice.

“Ne… Nergo…? You…?”

Nergo clicked his tongue and let out a deep sigh.

“I was hoping to do this quietly. But I guess that’s not working out.”

He said. He then casually tossed aside the dagger in his hand.

He dismounted his horse and slowly turned to face me.

“Whew… well, I guess there’s no choice. If I’m going to take you out… then I guess I need *this*, huh?”

As he spoke, his hand reached for the holy sword Luxcalibur at his waist.

Crap—

I immediately raised my shield Aegis onto my left arm.

The next moment, Nergo drew his sword like a samurai in a swift strike.

The blade slashed through the air in a brilliant arc. A trail of dazzling light was heading straight for me.

This power… it’s no joke!

I poured magic into Aegis.

The tip of the shield shifted and transformed into a streamlined shape.

Like the nose of a bullet train, the sharp point absorbed the sword’s light slash.

Redirecting the impact with brute force, I deflected the trajectory upward.

“…What the hell is with that shield?! In the game, it had lower defense than the holy sword’s attacks!!”

Nergo shouted furiously.

My heart pounded in shock and confusion.

Why is Nergo doing this?

Is he really trying to kill me?

Could he be secretly connected to Hyurandel, trying to take the Vixel Domain by killing me?

Countless thoughts ran through my head. But none of them stuck—they just came and went, over and over.

No clear answer came.

Before I could gather my thoughts, Nergo began preparing for his next strike.

He raised the holy sword to the sky. And light began to gather at its tip.

“Let’s see how long that shield of yours can hold up!!”

He grinned wildly as he built up massive power.

All I could do was brace my shield and wait for the coming attack.

What should I do…!?

Suddenly, the light from Nergo’s holy sword faded.

“…Huh?”

Even Nergo let out a confused voice.

“Hey… hey! What the hell’s going on?! Listen to me! Come on!!”

He desperately tried to channel power into the sword. But it remained silent. It was completely unresponsive.

I didn’t know what was happening either.

But it looked like… the holy sword was rejecting Nergo’s will.

At that moment—

An arrow sliced through the air and buried itself deeply into Nergo’s right arm.

“Gah!?”

As Nergo cried out, black threads burst from the arrow. It binded his entire body in an instant.

That magic… Curse Chain? Svea’s spell?!

Then that means—

The nearby bushes rustled.

When I looked over, I saw Svea standing there with her bow drawn.

“Svea!? I knew it—you’re here!”

I called out. She was panting. Her were legs trembling as she rushed over to me.

Nergo was now bound and unable to move. He shouted in disbelief.

“S-Svea…?! Why are you here…? Don’t tell me—you too…?”

But Svea didn’t answer him.

Instead, she leaned on my shoulder for support. She then asked me in a frail voice:

“Why… why is Nergo attacking you…?”

“I don’t know either… What the hell is going on…?”

I held my spinning head with one hand.

Then, Nergo muttered in a low voice:

“Why…? What do you mean, why…?”

I slowly turned toward him.

His face was twisted in hatred and pain.

“Because you stole my woman, damn it!!!!”

…Stole? As in… cheating? An affair?

I couldn’t immediately understand what he meant.

“What are you talking about? I never—”

“Shut up!!”

Nergo cut me off with another scream.

“I know, alright?! Ulrika! Raiza! They both met with you over and over, fooling around!!”

“What are you even saying!? They were only helping with the restoration here! Nothing like that ever happened!!”

“Don’t lie to me! And Sonia’s been meeting you too! Svea’s here now too… you piece of sh1t!!!”

“You realize what you’re saying?! That means you don’t trust any of them!”

As I shouted back, Nergo bit his lip hard and looked down.

“Shut up… I didn’t want to believe it either…”

His voice trembled.

Something was wrong.

Why would Nergo think like this?

Why would he start doubting us all of a sudden?

Was this attack not about Vixel Domain after all…?

Then, Svea quietly spoke.

“Nergo… who told you that?”

“…A certain informant.”

“…Was it… Hyurandel?”

At her words, Nergo suddenly lifted his face.

“Wh-why?! Why do *you* know that name?!”

No way.

A hypothesis began to form in my mind.

“Nergo… don’t tell me—you don’t even know who Hyurandel is?”

“…Huh? What do you mean? Of course I don’t—wait, why do *you two* know that name?!”

I took a deep breath.

Then, I told my pitiful friend the truth.

“Listen carefully, Nergo. Hyurandel is the former lord of the Vixel Domain.”

Nergo’s eyes widened in shock.

“What!? That bastard was the former lord of Vixel!? Wait… wasn’t the former lord supposed to be some total scumbag…?”

To support my words, Svea added coldly:

“And he sent assassins to kill Yutaka.”

“Hyurandel… tried to kill Yutaka…? I… I never heard any of that…”

The color drained from Nergo’s face.

“…You were used.”

When I said that, Nergo stood frozen in place. His mouth was agape in disbelief.

Svea continued,

“And he’s still plotting something. We don’t know who his next target is yet… but—”

At those words, Nergo gasped and shouted—

“Rururii-chan is in danger!!”