*He wanted a quiet life. He got a war hero's title, a mountain of paperwork, and two beautiful women he's too scared to answer.*
Lion Fou Bartfort—reincarnated mob character, reluctant marquis, and self-proclaimed future background extra—just wants to live unnoticed. But three days after the great war ended, his desk is buried in urgent documents, his compensation is being docked for every missed deadline, and his sarcastic AI partner Luxion never lets him forget it. Worst of all, he can't stop
Blooming After the War - False Ties, True Bonds — Beginning —
The tip of the quill caught faintly on the parchment. A blot of ink spread in a small dark stain over the figure written on the war reparations invoice.
"...Ah, damn it."
Lion Fou Bartfort let out a deep breath. The afternoon sunlight streaming through the window illuminated the mountain of documents piled on his desk with merciless brightness. The Bartfort family's temporary residence in the northern district of the royal capital, Velmuth, was a merchant's villa that had been requisitioned during the war and simply handed over as-is—the walls still bore faded floral wallpaper, apparently the previous owner's taste. Far too modest to call a noble's estate, yet the sheer volume of paperwork demanded the work of a full-grown official.
Only three days had passed since the great war ended. The alliance with the Fanoss Principality had been signed, and the sound of reconstruction hammers had only just begun to echo through the royal capital. Rebuilding of burned-out houses was starting all over the city, and goods were slowly trickling back into the markets. Even so, the scars left by the war were still raw wherever one looked.
Lion set down his quill and leaned his weight against the back of his chair. The wood creaked softly, the sound filling the room. From outside the window came the steady rhythm of hooves as wagons passed over the cobblestones, mingled with the shouts of craftsmen. The sky was high and clear—a blue so gentle it made one doubt the war had ever happened.
But Lion's heart remained clouded.
The title he had earned in the great war. The epithet "Villainous Knight." And the excessive expectations placed upon him by everyone around him. Each of these weighed heavily on Lion's shoulders. He had wanted a peaceful life. To stay unnoticed, to avoid commotion, to live quietly on his territory—that would have been enough. And yet, what was the reality? Before he knew it, he had been hailed as a war hero, saddled with miscellaneous duties called postwar processing, and his desk was buried under documents stamped "Urgent."
"They keep dumping all the low-paying jobs on me..."
Lion glared at the mountain of paperwork. Born as the son of a baronial house and raised as a neglected third son of a concubine, he knew the value of money better than anyone. Nothing irritated him more than being forced to do work that didn't match the pay.
" Master. If those documents aren't submitted to the royal palace within two hours, I'm told your compensation from the Royal Knights will be reduced further."
The red single eye floating at the corner of the desk delivered this in a flat, toneless voice.
" You should've told me sooner, Luxion!"
Lion raised his voice. Luxion—an artificial intelligence created by the old humans, and Lion's partner, a floating sphere—slowly blinked its red eye. The sphere's surface was etched with numerous fine scratches, telling the story of the years it had raced through battlefields at Lion's side.
" Even without being told, the submission deadline is written on the document's cover. Is it not simply that you haven't read it, Master?"
"Shut up. It's not that I haven't read it—it's that I can't bring myself to."
Lion cursed under his breath as he flipped open the document's cover. There, sure enough, were today's date and the submission deadline. Luxion's observation was correct. Correct—and that was precisely what made it infuriating.
Luxion was a legacy of the old civilization—an existence known as a Lost Item. Lion had stumbled upon it by chance in some ruins back when he was still a student at the academy. Since then, it had been his partner—sometimes delivering biting retorts, sometimes saving his life on the battlefield, and always at his side.
Luxion's knowledge was vast, spanning everything from the science and technology of the old humans to the magic systems of the new humans. The reason Lion had escaped crisis after crisis was due entirely to Luxion's presence.
" Master. The war reparations documents are not mere busywork. They are a critical task for rebuilding the Holfort Kingdom's finances. Though I doubt you have any awareness of that."
"Shut your mouth. Even I understand that much."
Lion regripped his quill. Luxion was always right. And because it was always right, Lion sometimes felt an irrational surge of anger—as if his own inadequacies were being thrown back in his face.
Lion was a small man. A hundred and sixty-eight centimeters tall. His short black hair had a slight wave to it, and his deep brown eyes held a sharp gleam. His build was lean but toned, and beneath his plain white shirt hid muscles forged on the battlefield. His features weren't bad—or so he thought. At least he had his previous life's looks to be grateful for.
His previous life. Every time he thought those words, something ached deep in his chest.
Lion had memories of a previous life. Memories of living as an ordinary high school student in a country called Japan. Being worked to the bone by his clever younger sister, forced to play through an otome game on her behalf all night, and then dying from exhaustion when he fell down the stairs—that was the pathetic end he remembered.
And Lion knew that this world was the world of that otome game.
"...I need to face Livia and Ange properly."
Lion muttered this to no one in particular.
Olivia. A scholarship student from commoner origins, with flaxen hair and beautiful blue eyes, and a generous bust that was exactly Lion's type. An innocent, airheaded girl who made no effort to hide her romantic feelings for Lion.
Angelica. A duke's daughter with radiant golden hair and powerful red eyes—a proud and noble beauty. A strict, sincere woman who always tried desperately to stop Lion from charging recklessly ahead.
Both of them were irreplaceable to Lion. He was aware of their feelings. Aware—and yet afraid to answer them.
(I'm a mob character. There's no way a mob character can have a romance with a main character.)
The world of an otome game. The protagonist was Olivia, and the capture targets were Julius and four other princes and nobles. Lion was supposed to be nothing more than a background character who didn't even appear at the edges of the story.
And yet, look at him now. Before he knew it, he was being called a war hero and a villainous knight, and on top of that, he'd been promoted all the way to marquis. The game's scenario had long since blown away to somewhere unrecognizable.
Even so, deep in Lion's heart, an unshakable self-assessment clung to him: that he could never be the protagonist of this world.
" Master. If you have time to think about useless things, perhaps you could move your hands instead?"
"Shut up. I was thinking about something important just now."
" About Lady Olivia and Lady Angelica, no doubt. Your face when you're thinking about those two is truly a sight to behold—utterly foolish."
"W-who's foolish?!"
Lion's face reddened. He couldn't shake the feeling that Luxion could read his thoughts. No—it probably actually could. This artificial intelligence had the ability to accurately grasp Lion's emotions from his expressions and tone of voice.
" ...Master. The submission deadline is approaching."
Luxion's voice softened, just slightly. Lion heaved a deep sigh and gripped his quill once more.
"I know. I know already."
The afternoon sunlight shifted its angle, bit by bit. Lion worked through the documents in silence. Territorial management reports, war reparations invoices, reconstruction support allocation tables. All of it was mind-numbingly tedious work for Lion, but it was also work that someone had to do.
Eventually, as dusk drew near, Lion signed the last document and stretched broadly.
"...Done."
His shoulders were stiff. When he rolled his neck, he heard the crackle of bones.
" Master. Regarding the investigation of the underground storage, I believe you should begin it today."
"Ah, right, that."
Lion stood. As part of the postwar processing, he had been assigned the task of investigating relics of the old civilization. Lost Items requisitioned during the war and old-human artifacts recovered from battlefields were being temporarily stored in the underground storage of the Bartfort family's temporary residence. Organizing and analyzing them was Lion's other job.
"Luxion, I need to properly investigate just how many of your kind are down there."
" I find the term 'my kind' offensive, but—well, yes. Some of the old civilization's relics may be dangerous."
Lion left the office and walked down the corridor. The hallway of the temporary residence was dim, and his footsteps echoed unnaturally loud. The old candelabras mounted on the walls were unlit, and only the setting sun through the windows barely illuminated his feet.
He descended the stairs to the basement. The stone steps were cold, and the air was damp and clammy. Lion stopped before the door to the underground storage.
When he opened the heavy iron door, musty air flowed out. Lion grimaced as he held his hand over the magic-stone lamp mounted on the wall. When he channeled his mana into it, the lamp began to emit a faint light.
Inside the underground storage, wooden and iron crates of all sizes were crammed together. Every one of them had been recovered from battlefields, and not a few contained contents unknown.
" Luxion, are there any dangerous readings nearby?"
" None at present—no life signs or magical reactions. However, I am detecting faint energy waves from several relics. Master, please do not touch anything carelessly."
"I know."
Lion advanced cautiously. He opened one of the wooden crates and found what appeared to be tools from the old civilization era. Rusted metal fragments, shards of glass, mechanical parts of unknown purpose. All of them had weathered away completely over more than a thousand years.
Luxion floated above Lion's shoulder, its red eye scanning each relic one by one.
" Master. The third iron crate from the left. I'm detecting the signature of an old-civilization data terminal from within."
"A data terminal? Like you?"
" No—not an autonomous AI like myself. It's a type of recording medium. Most likely, the old humans used it to store personal records."
Lion approached the indicated iron crate. It was small—about the size of something he could hold in both hands. When he opened the lid, inside lay a single silver metal plate, carefully wrapped in cloth.
"This one?"
The instant Lion reached toward the metal plate, Luxion's voice rang out sharply.
" Master, don't touch it!"
But it was too late. The moment Lion's fingertip touched the surface of the metal plate, light flooded the storage.
A pale blue-white radiance enveloped the entire space. Lion instinctively shut his eyes and shielded his face with his arm.
After the light subsided, Lion cautiously opened his eyes—and there it was.
An image hovered in midair.
It was a young woman. Long silver hair, translucent white skin, and a smile tinged with something lonely. She wore clothing from the old human era.
"—Lion."
The woman opened her mouth. Her voice reached Lion's ears gently, yet with a bittersweet ache, as if awakening memories from a distant past.
No—that wasn't it.
It wasn't Lion she had called.
"—Luxion."
The moment that name fell from her lips, Lion caught his breath.
The woman in the image was nestled close to someone. That someone was not human in form. A silver sphere—closely resembling Luxion's terminal, yet slightly different in shape—floated beside her.
"Stay with me always, okay?"
The woman smiled. The sphere blinked its pale blue light, as if answering her words.
The image cut off there.
A heavy silence fell over the underground storage.
Lion couldn't speak for a while. He couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened before his eyes.
What was that image?
Who was that woman?
And why had she called Luxion's name?
"...Luxion."
Lion called his partner's name in
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