*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 - A False Bond, a True Tie - Turn - The Back-Alley Assault and the Guardian's Vow
Dusk in the royal capital of Velmuth swallowed the day's clamor slowly, repainting the city's outlines from madder red to deep indigo. With the heavy doors of the Grand Library at his back, Lion Fou Bartfort glanced at his shadow stretching across the cobblestones, then started walking. The shadow was absurdly long—as if the hesitation inside him had been cast straight onto the ground.
(Luxion's secrets. Eclipse. And whoever attacked that librarian, Eleanor.)
Heavy thoughts churned round and round in his head. Lion touched the leather band around his left wrist—a plain bracelet modeled after Luxion's terminal. Its touch felt a little cold today. What was his partner thinking right now? No—did his partner even "think" at all? Even that, Lion could no longer say for certain.
"Master. You are going the wrong way. If you intend to return to the temporary residence, take the next right."
A flat, toneless voice came from the bracelet. Lion clicked his tongue softly without breaking stride.
"Shut up. I'm taking a detour. I need to cool my head."
"Cool your head, is it. You appear to have been thoroughly chilled from the start."
"Is that a compliment or an insult, you bastard? Which one?"
"The latter."
Lion clicked his tongue again and turned off the main avenue into an alley along the outer wall. Few people came this way. The evening air rode the wind between the stone buildings and brushed cool against his skin. Weeds sprouted from cracks in the walls; old crates and a broken handcart had been abandoned in a corner. It was a quiet, slightly run-down place—nothing like the glittering heart of the capital.
Lion liked it here. No one around. No one watching. Here, his conversations with Luxion and his own weak complaints would go unheard.
(But maybe... maybe I don't really want to be alone.)
A voice whispered that from somewhere deep in his chest. Olivia's face surfaced. Those earnest blue eyes. The sound of her voice saying she wanted to be of help to him. And then the record of Eclipse he'd found in the Grand Library. The power sleeping inside Luxion that could destroy the world. Since learning that, Lion's heart had known no rest.
"...Luxion. Do you really know nothing? Not about Eclipse, not about your fiancée."
Lion murmured it quietly. No answer came right away. Only his own footsteps echoed through the alley.
"Master. I believe I have answered that question before. It is data irrelevant to you."
"I'm telling you, I decide whether it's relevant or not."
His voice sharpened a little. Luxion's single red eye pulsed slowly on the bracelet.
"...Master. I am your partner. That fact does not change."
"Then why do you keep dodging like that? If you're my partner, don't keep secrets from me."
"It is not a secret. It is simply information you have no need to be shown."
"That's the same thing!"
Lion raised his voice. His shout rebounded off the alley walls. In that instant he noticed the emotions churning inside him and bit his lip. He was angry. Furious at Luxion. But more than that, he was sad. That his trusted partner had built a wall against him—that alone was simply painful.
"...Sorry. For yelling."
He apologized quietly and started walking again. Luxion said nothing. Silence filled the evening alley.
And then it happened.
"Lion."
A clear, ringing voice struck his back. Lion stopped and turned. Standing at the alley's entrance, the setting sun behind her, was a girl.
Her brilliant blond hair was gathered high, and her strong red eyes looked straight at him. Her posture was ramrod straight. Her crimson dress seemed to burn in the evening light. Angelica Rafa Redgrave—daughter of the Redgrave duchy, one of the foremost great noble houses of the Kingdom of Holfort. Once the crown prince's betrothed, isolated by the condemnation event, and saved by Lion.
"Ange... what are you doing here?"
Her name slipped out before he could stop it. Angelica walked slowly toward him. Her footsteps rang strangely clear in his chest.
"My servant told me you had come out of the Grand Library. So I was a little worried."
She stopped a few paces short of him. Her red eyes fixed on his face. In that gaze, amid the strength, he thought he saw the faintest tint of unease.
"Lord Bartfort. You know as well as I that the capital's peace has grown unstable. I have heard about the disturbance at the Grand Library as well. So why are you walking alone down a deserted alley like this?"
Her voice was crisp. A scolding. Yet beneath it seeped her worry for him. A little cowed by her intensity, Lion tried to brush it off as usual.
"It's nothing serious. I was just taking a walk. What about you—is it safe for you to come to a place like this alone?"
"I came looking for you. I came because you are not all right!"
Her voice took on feeling for the first time. Her red eyes blazed with anger. Lion flinched at her ferocity.
"O-oh... sorry."
He apologized honestly. Angelica let out a small breath and calmed her anger. Then, lowering her voice a little, she said:
"...You are always like this. Carrying everything alone, wearing a calm face. But anyone can see you are forcing yourself."
Her words pierced deep. She had hit the mark. Luxion. Eclipse. Olivia. He had been trying to shoulder it all alone.
"You may lean on me. On Olivia, too. You are our... our benefactor, after all."
Angelica lowered her eyes just slightly. Her cheeks seemed tinged with a color not entirely the fault of the dusk, and Lion's heart jumped.
(Ange, saying something like that...)
Her awkward kindness made something hot rise deep in his chest. This girl was always like this. Strict, proud—and yet more sensitive to others' pain than anyone. She delivered her words straight at him, as if seeing through to the bottom of his heart.
"...Ange. You've changed."
The honest words slipped out. Angelica lifted her face and looked at him.
"Changed? I have?"
"Yeah. Before, you were more... prickly, I guess. You just snapped at me. Now you actually worry about people."
"How rude. I have always worried about you. You simply never noticed my feelings."
She turned her face away with a huff. The gesture was oddly adorable, and Lion nearly laughed. But that smile would freeze moments later.
Clang.
From the back of the alley came an unnatural sound, like metal scraping. Lion and Angelica turned toward it at the same time. In the dim dusk, something slowly emerged from the shadow of the stacked crates.
It was human-shaped. But it was clearly not human. Its whole body was covered in dull silver armor, with countless gears peeking from its joints. Sharp blades were mounted at the ends of both arms. In the place of a face, a single red light blinked eerily.
"W-what the hell is that...?"
Lion instinctively stepped in front of Angelica to shield her. An automaton of the old civilization. One of the old civilization's relics he'd heard about in the Grand Library. Why was it here?
"Master, danger. That is an automaton of the old civilization. It is armed."
Luxion's warning shot into his ears. The automaton turned its single red eye on Lion and, joints creaking, began to walk.
"Ange, get back!"
Lion shouted and tried to activate Arroganz. But in that instant—
The automaton closed on him with explosive speed. His reaction lagged a heartbeat. The blade on its arm caught the evening light, bleaching his vision white.
"Lion!"
Angelica's scream. And then Lion's body was violently shoved aside.
Shhk.
The raw sound of flesh tearing. As Lion tumbled to the ground, what he saw was Angelica's back—standing before the automaton in his place. Her crimson dress was soaking into a deeper red. The automaton's blade had cut her deeply from the shoulder down across her chest.
"Ange... ANGELICAAAAA!!"
A scream tore from his throat. Angelica's body crumpled slowly. Fresh blood sprayed across the cobblestones, dyeing the evening alley red. Lion's vision went crimson.
Rage coursed through him. A fury fiercer than anything he had ever felt. Not rage at being hurt himself—helpless, unbearable rage that she had been hurt. Lion gritted his teeth and stood.
"You bastard... how dare you, how dare you do this to Ange...!"
He raised the bracelet on his left wrist.
"Luxion! Bring out Arroganz!"
"Understood, Master."
Lion's body was wrapped in light. The next moment, he was clad in jet-black armor—Arroganz. A humanoid mobile weapon, a relic of the old civilization, old-fashioned in appearance yet high-performance. As if answering his rage, Arroganz's plating gleamed ominously in the dusk.
"I'll kill you...!"
Lion charged the automaton. Arroganz's legs kicked off the cobblestones, shattering the ground. The automaton raised its blades and met him.
Gakiiiiin!!
Arroganz's fist and the automaton's blade collided. Sparks scattered, and the clang of metal rang through the alley. Lion seized the automaton's armor and slammed it into the wall.
Dgoooon!!
The stone wall caved in deeply. But the automaton, as if untouched, blinked its red eye and raised its blade again.
"Master. Ordinary strikes cannot destroy that armor. It has been reinforced with a fragment of Eclipse."
"A fragment of Eclipse?!"
Lion looked at the automaton's armor. Indeed, eerie patterns were surfacing on its surface. That crest of the old humans. The power of Eclipse.
"Damn it...!"
Lion pointed Arroganz's palm at the automaton.
"Impact!"
Energy slammed out from the palm. The automaton's body rocked violently. But it was not a decisive blow. Staggering, the automaton lunged at him again.
"Master, I will provide support. Deploying drones."
With Luxion's voice, countless small spheres appeared around Lion. Luxion's drones. They circled the automaton, trying to pin down its movements.
But the next moment, something strange happened.
The automaton's core blazed a fiercer red—and one after another, the drones lost control and dropped to the ground. A noise-like sound ran through Luxion's terminal.
"Master... this unit is rejecting my control. The Eclipse code is attempting to intrude into my subsystems."
Luxion's voice warped with pain for the first time. Lion's chest tightened at his partner's distress.
"Luxion! Are you all right?!"
"...Part of my processing has gone silent. Master, destroy that automaton quickly. My control will not hold."
Luxion's voice broke in and out. Lion bit his lip. His partner was suffering. If only he had noticed sooner.
(Damn it... damn, damn, damn!)
Lion opened the rear container on Arroganz. A large weapon shot out. He grabbed it and leveled it at the automaton.
"I'll blow a hole through your core...!"
With reckless resolve, Lion dove into the automaton's guard. Its blade grazed his armor. Sparks flew; plating was shaved away. But he did not stop.
(If I back down here, I can't avenge Ange!)
Lion took aim at the automaton's core—its very center—and drove the weapon home.
"This is the end!!"
Zdooooon!!!
A massive explosion erupted. The automaton's body shattered in two. Debris rained down on the evening alley. Lion was blown back by the blast and slammed into the ground.
"Hah... hah..."
Breathing raggedly, Lion crawled to where Angelica lay. He released Arroganz and, with his bare hands, lifted her into his arms.
"Ange! Angelica! Hey, stay with me!"
Her face was drained of blood, deathly pale. The wound from shoulder to chest was deep, and her dress was soaked bright red. Lion's hands grew wet with her blood.
"Li... on... thank good... ness..."
Her lips moved faintly. Her voice was so weak it seemed about to vanish. Fierce regret and self-reproach crashed over Lion.
"Don't talk! I'll save you now! Luxion, where's the infirmary?!"
"...Master, my apologies. I am attempting to restore processing. Inquiring the infirmary's location."
Luxion's voice still carried static. Lion lifted Angelica into his arms. Her body was astonishingly light. Or was he so shaken that he could no
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