Chương 90: Chapter 89 – Return to Imperia

Henry McCaley was waiting for me in front of the Catheral's gate. I considered it for a moment, but in the end, I still decided to speak with him right in front of Lealia. Lealia was clearly uncomfortable seeing the man. The only impression she had of him was that of a murderer. And she was not wrong though. Henry also gave me a strange look when I brought Lealia over with me. I gave a short introduction:"This is Lealia Castela. A healer." That was enough for him to understand.

Another person I intended to support into becoming a Hero, this time as the party's healer.

"Oh. I know her. She once peeked in while I was… doing a few things." Lealia replied with a rare coldness:"Oh, you mean when I accidentally saw you murdering people." Henry answered calmly:"I've killed many people. Every single one of them deserved it." Lealia frowned.

"Whether someone deserves death or not isn't for you to decide."

"Then who does get to decide? The royal family? The Church? Or are you saying the Godness should?"

"I…" Obviously, a somewhat naïve young girl like Lealia was no match for a seasoned old man like Henry in an argument. She turned toward me with an aggrieved look, clearly expecting me to back her up. Instead, I simply shrugged and turned to Henry.

"Sir Knight, thank you sincerely for the wonderfully delayed and utterly useless information you sent me. I strongly urge you to write down everything you can remember into a notebook and organize the details in chronological order. I would be deeply grateful." Henry showed absolutely no guilt.

"Will do that."

"I'm serious. Do you remember what happened in Yathen?"

"You mean the ghoul attack?"

"Exactly. What happened in Grasiva is connected to the ghouls that will appear in Yathen. I want you to write down everything you can remember and send it to me afterward. There's no rush, but make sure you don't leave out anything important."

"Understood."

"So. Why were you waiting for me here?"

"I hadn't heard any news from Grasiva. I wanted to make sure whether you were alive or dead." I laughed.

"If I die, I guarantee you'll be the first person to know." Henry frowned slightly. That made me realize something. I didn't think I had ever actually told him that every time I died, the world reset. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I simply wasn't sure whether his mind had deteriorated far enough that "killing Asher" might eventually become one of the options he considered if a situation became hopeless.

You can't blame me for being suspicious. The guy killed Claire before. Still, after I die a few more times, he'll figure it out eventually. Honestly, I was secretly grateful that I hadn't needed to reset even once during the trip to Grasiva, despite how dangerous several situations had been. Trust me, resets are not some comforting safety net like people imagine. Sure, they stop you from fearing failure. But they also create a different kind of burden. Repeated memories. Connections you build only to lose again.

The growing impatience from trying to force everything into a perfect outcome. Those things slowly strip away who you are. And personally, I had no desire to find out what kind of person I'd become after going through that enough times. I changed the subject.

"You mentioned in your letter that things with Rachel went smoothly. What about the McCaley family?" The moment that topic came up, Henry visibly soured.

"I'm now the official heir. Once the old man dies, I'll have to take over."

"The old man" was obviously Gordon McCaley, the current head of the McCaley family. He was the younger brother of the legendary Sword Saint Felix McCaley. Though unlike his older brother, Gordon was rarely praised for his swordsmanship. People instead knew him as a practical businessman who had successfully commercialized the McCaley sword style into a profitable swordsmanship school system. I'd met him once at a Griffin family banquet. And honestly I kind of liked him.

"I think you could learn quite a lot from the head of your family." After that, Lealia and I boarded a carriage back to Imperia. The moment we sat down inside, Lealia still looked visibly unhappy. She held it in for a while before finally blurting out:"I don't like him." I laughed.

"Henry? He's not that bad. Actually, he's…" I paused. What good points did Henry even have? Back during my first isekai, I probably could've called him reliable. But now, whenever I looked at him, all I saw was a washed up middle aged drunk uncle stumbling through life and felt nostalgic about once brilliant and glamorous youth.

"…he's pretty strong. Just think of him like raising a vicious dog. Normally it bites random people for no reason, but if it recognizes you as its owner, then you've got a vicious guard dog protecting you."

"Dog…" Lealia nearly choked on her own saliva. She even looked like she was trying not to laugh. Personally, I thought it was a perfectly reasonable comparison. At the very least, after that Lealia stopped worrying about Henry around me. When we finally returned to Imperia, I noticed a huge crowd gathered at the front gate. That surprised me a little. News from Grasiva shouldn't have reached Imperia this quickly.

And even if some students had somehow heard rumors, academy students normally weren't enthusiastic enough to gather at the gates just to welcome someone back. Even Jullius never received treatment like this during my first isekai. But as we got closer, I realized the crowd was indeed excited over someone. Just definitely not me, or Lealia, or Iris either. It was a blonde girl wearing the academy uniform.

I blinked several times to make sure my eyes weren't fooling me, but with the Goddess's eye enhancement, there was no way I was mistaken. That girl was very clearly Rachel Hustler. Except blonde. The moment she saw me getting off the carriage, Rachel crossed her arms and jerked her chin upward in the least princess like manner imaginable.

"Asher, you're late." The corner of my mouth twitched uncontrollably. People around us immediately started whispering.

"The princess knows that guy?"

"She came out here waiting for him? Isn't he not even a Hero candidate?"

"No, the candidate is the girl standing behind him."

"Princess Claire is… surprisingly bold."

"Shh! Didn't she already tell everyone not to call her by her real name? We should call her Rachel." Since we were standing in front of a crowd, I still had to bow properly according to noble etiquette.

"Asher Griffin greets… Your Highness. May I ask what business brings you to me?" Rachel tilted her head arrogantly.

"Come on. Let's talk somewhere else." I glanced at the crowd swarming around us and seriously doubted we could find anywhere private without these people following behind. But then Rachel suddenly turned around and loudly ordered the crowd:"You are not allowed to follow us. I want to speak to this person privately." The surrounding students exchanged confused looks, but eventually stepped aside and opened a path for us.

The moment I led Rachel into a quieter corner of the garden, she immediately said:"Someone figured out I'm not the princess." Wow. Why was I not surprised at all? I carefully tested the waters.

"Maybe… you should learn a little more royal etiquette and act a bit more gracefully?" Rachel clicked her tongue.

"I stayed beside Claire long enough to memorize all that etiquette crap. I just don't feel like doing it. Besides, that's not the problem."

"Then what is?"

"There's someone at this academy who's met Claire in person before. She realized I'm not that blonde brat."

"Who?"

"Rushia of the Matthew family."