* * *
Gaspar clutched his head.
“You’re right… It was stupid. But I threw him out of the gambling den to get him to safety, then hurried after Bati. And when I came back, he was already…”
“Haa.”
No matter how fast he ran to explain himself, if the person he was trying to explain things to was already dead when he got back, his credibility would be nonexistent.
And honestly, even if his intentions were to help, Gaspar couldn’t be completely blameless—he was the one who attacked first.
Getting thrown onto the street while injured could’ve made it harder for the guy to escape another gambling addict’s attack.
That being said, calling him a crazed gambler who killed a man is a total misrepresentation of what happened.
“After that, Bati declared that he wanted nothing to do with me. And he meant it. He’s never spoken to me again.”
Can’t blame him.
He probably thought of Gaspar as a dumb but kind mentor—someone worth looking up to.
And now, he can’t even call him kind anymore.
He’s just a lost cause.
“I understand why Bati was disappointed in me. I don’t blame him for not wanting to look after me anymore. I was never much of a mentor to begin with.”
The only thing this guy has going for him is that at least he knows his own worth.
“But I just… I just don’t want Bati to feel ashamed or hurt because he once had a criminal for a mentor. That’s all I want.”
Hmm.
From the start, all he’s ever said is that he wants to clear up the misunderstanding.
At least he’s consistent.
And while this whole mess started because of his own mistake, it was still a mistake made with good intentions.
He’s not completely without fault, but he’s not a bad person, either.
…This might actually be salvageable.
If I beat some sense into him—enough to at least curb his gambling addiction—maybe I could make something out of this.
Or am I just being too optimistic?
But then again, the Hero must have thought the same thing, right?
That aside from his gambling problem, his teacher wasn’t all that bad?
That’s probably why, up until the day everything fell apart, he still made sure to pick him up—even if he was running late.
Yeah. I should at least put him on the list of people who might be useful to the Hero.
I won’t find anyone else this close to him.
I nodded.
He’s worth cooperating with.
“I get it. I’ll try to set up a meeting to clear things up.”
Gaspar’s face lit up in an instant.
“Really?”
“I don’t joke about things like this. But because of you…”
Not Batiste, but…
“I got into a fight with Zerbin. So it’s going to take some time.”
“Then you should patch things up first.”
Ugh.
Just thinking about making up with him gives me a headache.
The whole reason the Hero got mad in the first place was that he didn’t believe me when I said Gaspar was a bad guy.
And now, here I am, plotting to clear his name.
Is he going to forgive me for this?
I can’t even picture it.
I’m good at sweet-talking my way out of things, but that’s not going to work on the Hero.
I keep losing my composure around him—I keep letting my emotions slip.
He sees right through me every time.
This isn’t going to be easy.
‘I need something solid to convince him.’
Something that would make him hesitate—make him think, “Maybe this really was a misunderstanding.”
That way, I can also have a legitimate reason for not believing him in the first place!
“What about the culprit? You never caught them?”
Is that why the Hero is still suspicious of Gaspar?
“No, we caught them. It wasn’t like they were a skilled assassin—just some random gambler who lost it and killed someone. Not exactly hard to track down.”
That makes sense.
But if they caught the real culprit, why is the Hero still doubting him?
That doesn’t add up.
“You might not know this, but… I’m actually from a noble family. Fifth son of a provincial noble, but still.”
I mean, that’s the kind of background where you’re more likely to end up as a knight, fending for yourself, rather than living off family wealth.
Wait a minute.
Now’s my chance to ask something I’ve been wondering about.
“So what happened to your knightly duties? Why are you running around as an adventurer?”
“T-That, uh…”
Gaspar looked away.
“Hurry up and spill. You’ve had enough time to act innocent. If you did something stupid, I’m out.”
“Well… After Bati stopped cleaning up my messes, my debts started catching up to my family.”
“…”
“They covered for me a few times, but then they got sick of me tarnishing their reputation and kicked me out…”
Wow.
Just… wow.
I kicked him under the table, and he winced.
He didn’t even try to dodge, probably because he knew he deserved it.
“Ow! Ow! That hurts!”
“My heart hurts more!”
“Why are you upset about me getting kicked out?!”
I swear, the gods are cruel for expecting the Hero to give up normal relationships and embrace love with this guy.
So he got disowned, lost his noble status, and that meant losing his knighthood too.
Since he was still skilled, he became an adventurer instead.
A noble-born man who threw his life away like this… What a waste.
It’s almost impressive how pathetic he is.
And yet, he’s so oddly decent in small ways that it’s annoying.
He’s hard to ignore.
Is this how the Hero ended up stuck with him?
“You need to quit gambling.”
“I told you, I’m not addicted.”
“Then it should be easy to quit.”
No immediate response.
“If you don’t give me a straight answer, I’m not helping you.”
Silence stretched between us.
I tapped his empty teacup, the clinking sound pushing for a response.
“Well?”
“I’ll… try. But I don’t think I can do it alone.”
At least he’s finally being honest.
“I’ll help with that. Just answer one thing—do you want to stop?”
Giving up gambling isn’t easy, but if the gods really want me to help this guy, then maybe we can make it work.
But if he’s not even willing to try, he’s not worth saving.
“I guess… even as a game, it’s not good, huh…”
Obviously!
People who gamble for fun don’t end up losing their entire savings before their next job!
Gaspar hesitated, then sighed.
“You’ll really help? You won’t give up on me? If you do, I don’t know what’ll happen to me.”
How the hell do you not know what’s going to happen to your own life?
I wanted to say that.
But I held back.
Because, in the end, I’m just as much of a mess as he is.
Everyone deserves at least one chance to make things right…
Otherwise, I’d have no right to be here, either.
“Fine.”
God, just this conversation alone is exhausting.
I ordered another sandwich.
Time to get back to the main topic.
“So what does your noble status have to do with why the Hero still doesn’t trust you, even after they caught the real culprit?”
“My family has a history of covering up my messes. The Hero thinks they paid someone off to take the fall for me.”
“…Let me guess. They did that a lot when you got into trouble at the gambling den?”
“Uh… yeah.”
So if he had just behaved better in the first place!
Just a little better!
This bastard! It’s all his own damn fault!
* * *
