Step... step...
As Adelio led Ria, Shizue, and Rimuru straight toward the office of the [Grand Master], he swept his vivid blue eyes across the surroundings.
"......"
An ordinary corridor, as familiar as ever, and just as awkward.
He had already walked this hallway hundreds of times, but the more years passed, the more out of place it felt.
There was a reason for that.
'...So he called in the Rosso family again, along with the executives of [Cerberus].'
The presence of the [Moderate Harlequin Alliance], the aura of a [saint] from the East, and even the stench of one of the Seven Deadly Sins steeped in greed.
Living up to the name of humanity's greatest fighting force, Adelio identified the lingering traces in this place without even needing to use a [Skill], then fixed his sharply narrowed gaze forward.
'I already suspected it back in the great forest... but he really has no intention of changing his target...'
Ten whole years.
But to an immortal being, ten years was nothing more than a brief span.
In those ten years, he had partly taken control of the underworlds of both West and East, and even gone so far as to create [Cerberus]. Adelio could have overlooked that much.
After all, as far as the outside world knew, [Cerberus] only acted as the hidden backing of the commoner faction, helping merchant groups resist the injustices of the noble faction.
'He abolished Orthos, the slave merchant company, unlike the original flow of events. For a moment, I thought maybe there was still a chance... but I was hoping for too much.'
The farther he walked through this place, the more certain he became.
The prized disciple he was about to meet was a vast madness of ravenous desire, someone he might one day have to kill with his own hands.
And by now, he had already become exactly that.
"......"
"...Teacher, are you all right?"
Even after they had reached the door, Adelio still stood there with a troubled expression, and Shizue looked at him in concern.
"You look a little pale. Did something happen?"
A moment later, Shizue's innocent question reached him.
'......'
She still didn't know about their beloved disciple's straying.
That was Adelio's judgment. If Shizue learned the truth about [Cerberus], she would surely blame herself for it.
'For Shiz's sake too, I wanted to avoid a confrontation if possible. But this is the last chance for that.'
Adelio was not as soft as Shizue or Rimuru.
Even if the boy repented later and became an ally, that would only matter later. In the situation before him now, confrontation was the best option.
"...No, it's nothing."
At last, Adelio pushed aside the thoughts of what would come next, curved his lips faintly, and placed a hand on the doorknob.
Creak...
If he was only going to regret it now, maybe it would have been better to throw caution aside and act from the very beginning.
**
Tap.
Looking back on it now, his first meeting with that boy had been...
"......Oh!"
...strangely peaceful.
"You got here earlier than I expected."
I never thought there would really be a position called [Hero] in another world.
"Since my teachers came together, I thought it would take a little longer."
And I never imagined that a [Hero] like you would accept someone like me as a disciple.
"It looked like there were way more people gathered than last year... Wasn't it hard dealing with them?"
If I become your disciple, then someday... no, it's nothing.
"I used to see you several times a year until last year, but today it feels like it's been especially long, doesn't it?"
I just thought... I'd like to make my own ideals real someday, just like you did.
"......"
Light brown hair like oak, the half-grown frame of a boy not yet fully matured, the white formal uniform symbolizing the [Grand Master] of the [Guild], and...
"Yeah, it really does feel like it's been a long time—"
...a gentle impression that made him seem kinder than anyone else.
Of all the disciples Adelio had taught, he had treasured Adelio's teachings more than any of them. And yet he had broken every last one of his warnings—the worst disciple.
"—Yuuki."
His other name was the true leader of [Cerberus], Kagurazaka Yuuki.
Even after becoming the [Hero]'s foremost disciple and rising all the way to the position of head of the [Guild],
he had still tried to seize control of the entire hidden side of the world for one single purpose:
world domination.
He was Adelio's one and only lingering pain.
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