My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros' Obsession-Chapter 57Vol 2.

The only thing I could think of as precious to me right now was Aquila.

But Aquila was already functioning as the most important component that made up the person called Salvia. That meant I had to create a new, precious existence—one that wasn’t Aquila.

Not just Aquila, but also my treasured comrades—Lady Ishina, Karon, Winter, Dalin, Benny... I had to exclude all of them.

However, no matter how hard I thought about it, it was difficult to suddenly come to cherish something new in such a short period of time. It wasn’t like I could control my heart at will.

...Then, maybe there was already something I cherished without realizing it?

As I searched my past memories, my mind drifted all the way back to when I first transmigrated into this world.

And then—

The orphanage!

That’s right. Now that I thought about it, I had a friend there back when I lived at the orphanage. Not just anyone, but someone the original Salvia had cherished.

If they had been precious to the original Salvia, then maybe they could be precious to me as well.

I shot up from my seat. Actually, I had already been meaning to think about the orphanage for another reason.

That damn orphanage director!

Since I was going there to find my old friend, I might as well take the chance to see that hag’s face—the one who happily shoved me into the military with a big grin.

Of course, even if it hadn’t been her, I still would’ve ended up in the Border Defense Army. The contract magic inflicted excruciating pain if ignored.

But I couldn’t forgive her for making me work my ass off while I was in that orphanage!

And I’d bet anything that she embezzled money, too. That was the standard behavior of orphanage directors in romance fantasy worlds. Plus, our orphanage was technically a public institution, yet it was always in awful condition.

Alright, I’d just found the last thing to do during my leave!

With my decision made, I grabbed Aquila and tugged him up.

"Aquila, get up! We’re going somewhere!"

"Where?"

"To find a way to cure this sickness!"

***

The orphanage I had stayed in was located a bit north of the capital.

The imperial forces were still stationed outside the city, making travel difficult. Fortunately, the Border Defense Army was pushing back and reclaiming territory, so we could get there without trouble.

Aquila and I took a carriage to the orphanage, and the whole time, my eyes burned with determination.

When we finally arrived, I stepped off the carriage, looking more fearless than ever.

"Let’s go!"

Just like Dalin, I pounded on the door loudly.

Bang, bang, bang!

"Director! Director!"

After a brief wait, the door opened, and an all-too-familiar face appeared. The orphanage director—now noticeably aged.

"Who’s there...? Wait a moment."

As soon as she saw my face, her eyes narrowed before suddenly going wide with shock.

"Your name... Y-you... Yes! Salvia!"

"I didn’t expect you to remember me. How surprising."

I spoke in a sarcastic tone, and she stammered before responding.

"O-of course, I remember. You were one of our precious children. S-so, what brings you here?"

"Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to see you."

"O-oh, is that so? Well, why don’t you come in and have some tea? Hohoho...."

She let out an awkward laugh, and I decided to play along for now.

As I followed her inside, I glanced around the orphanage halls.

Nothing had changed.

Not. One. Thing.

How could this place look exactly the same after nine years?

Yeah. She was definitely embezzling money.

Walking down the hallway, I passed a few children. Their eyes sparkled as they looked at me, probably thinking I was here to adopt someone.

"Wow, your hair color is so pretty!"

"I’ve never seen that color before."

The kids, still too young to understand what hetero sapiens were, spoke with innocent curiosity.

Finally, I arrived at the director’s office and sat down on the couch. The director carefully set down a cup of tea in front of me.

"Salvia, how have you been?"

"I got dragged off to the military. Do you think I’ve been doing well?"

My words dripped with thorns.

"Well, at least I survived. But you never expected me to make it out alive, did you?"

"W-what are you saying, Salvia? Hohoho... I always believed in you."

"Sure."

I answered in a flat tone, watching as she began fidgeting uncomfortably.

"S-Salvia, who’s this beside you? Are you married?"

"He’s my fiancé."

Aquila glanced at me, silently asking if it was okay to respond. I gave him a small nod, and he extended a hand to the director.

"I’m Aquila."

"O-oh my, what a handsome groom-to-be, hohoho."

At this point, I was starting to get bored of this conversation.

It was time to get to the real reason I was here.

"So, Director, are you still embezzling funds?"

"Pfft! Cough, cough! Embezzling? W-what nonsense is that?!"

She tried to feign ignorance, but I was an expert at reading people.

I had only been throwing out baseless accusations, but her reaction confirmed that I had hit the nail on the head.

"You’ve been skimming money for far too long. I think it’s about time you let go of your little scheme."

"Salvia..."

Suddenly, her expression turned desperate, and she reached for my hand.

"I-I don’t know how much you’ve figured out, but please, think this through. If I get caught, what will happen to these children?"

"They’ll probably live just fine under a new director."

"Salvia, please..."

She was no longer the confident woman I had known as a child. Now, she looked pathetic—pleading, clinging.

"Salvia, w-what do you want? I’ll do anything!"

"I just want you to stop embezzling and stop overworking the children. Is that really so hard?"

"Salvia, that’s..."

Her pupils wavered, and then, suddenly, she shot up from her seat.

"The truth is... we had reasons for taking that money!"

"Oh, really?"

"The orphanage barely gets any funding. If I don’t pay the teachers a little extra, they’ll all leave."

The sourc𝗲 of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.

...Hearing that, my expression turned serious.

It made sense. The Adolph Empire, which never cared about welfare, wouldn’t have allocated much money to orphanages in the first place.

Wait—so if I forced her to stop embezzling, wouldn’t the teachers quit, making the children’s lives even worse?

I knew better than to recklessly interfere and end up making things worse.

This was exactly the kind of situation that happened all the time in romance fantasy stories. Someone tries to help street children by handing out gold coins, only for the kids to be targeted by thieves.

I was caught in a dilemma.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Goddammit, why does everything have to be so complicated?

It seemed like I shouldn’t intervene carelessly. For now, I decided to step back.

Instead, I brought up the real reason I had come.

"Director, do you remember the kid I used to play with when I was younger?"

"Oh! You mean Lily!"

The director’s face lit up instantly. Clapping her hands together, she exclaimed,

"What [N O V E L I G H T] perfect timing! I was just about to tell you about her! She’s working here as a new teacher now."

"A new teacher?"

"Yes! I’ll go call her over!"

I was genuinely lucky. Who would’ve thought she was still here?

As the director disappeared, I tried to recall what she had looked like. Brown hair... and that was about it. I couldn’t remember much else.

Wait—if I barely remembered her, could she really become my new precious component?

At that moment, a young woman with brown hair, just like in my memories, entered the room. She looked at me with familiarity and called my name.

"Hey, Salvia. Do you remember me? It’s Lily."

"Oh, yeah! Lily!"

Suddenly, my memory started coming back. The original Salvia had struggled to fit in at the orphanage because of her unusual hair color. But Lily had been the only one who willingly talked to her.

"You became a teacher here?"

"Yeah, I was lucky. Not many of us got a good outcome like I did."

Despite seeing me again after so long, she was calm as she sat down in front of me.

"By the way, I heard you were planning to report the orphanage for embezzlement?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about it..."

"But, Salvia, if you do that, it’ll really cause problems. Without that money, the teachers would basically be working for free."

Hearing that, I finally understood the real root of the problem.

The damn Adolph Empire.

Of course. Of course it was the Adolph Empire again.

How the hell did their emperor run the country? Did he seriously not spend anything on social welfare?

"...That problem is going to be solved soon. You know what’s happening in the capital, right?"

"You mean how the citizens have taken over the royal palace?"

"Exactly. If they form a new government, they’ll probably spend more on public welfare. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for."

"That would be nice."

It seemed like the embezzlement issue wasn’t something I could fix immediately.

Reality isn’t a convenient power fantasy.

I stared at the floor, feeling frustrated. There was no easy solution to this.

My thoughts drifted back to my recent meeting with Aquila’s mother.

She wasn’t some grand villain. She was just an ordinary person who made terrible choices out of fear. There was no real revenge to take on her.

That conversation had left a bitter aftertaste. In the end, we had cut ties, but it hadn’t felt satisfying.

This was the same.

I held resentment for what had happened to me at this orphanage, but I couldn’t just take revenge on the director when the children’s welfare was at stake.

Yeah... This is reality.

I decided to accept it.

Reality was frustrating and harsh. There was no clear good or evil, no definitive success or failure. Everything was ambiguous.

But even in that ambiguity, people had to make choices and push forward, even when it felt suffocating. That was reality. That was what our revolution—and our lives—would be like.

As I sat there, lost in thought, Lily blinked at me before finally speaking.

"Salvia... you’ve changed."