I, reincarnate as the leader of the villainous knight order

Chapter 120: A Talk Between Brothers

“Fortunately, the other knights are out right now, so we don’t have to worry about anyone eavesdropping.”

After confirming that there was no one in the hallway, I locked the door. We had returned to the inn to discuss our past lives with just the three of us.

“Have a seat.”

The room I was staying in was larger, likely meant for someone like the head of a merchant guild. It had a table and sofas, perhaps for business discussions. When I gestured, Alan and Jest each sat on a single-seater sofa.

By the way, the others were in a much simpler room with only two bunk beds. This is why I’ve allowed them some freedom within Salamona.

“Let’s get to it… Jest, Jeanne mentioned that your current form was influenced by my memories. Did you see my memories?”

“No. Um, Mom said, ‘If there’s a form that fits within the Lord’s memories, you’ll become the same.’ So when I took human form and it wasn’t someone from this country, I thought maybe I was someone important to Justin.”

“I see… Jest, both Alan and I have memories from before we were born in this world. We call those our past lives. In that past life, Alan was my younger brother.”

“Huh? But Alan looks bigger than you, Justin.”

Jest tilted his head curiously.

“That’s true. But in our past lives, Alan was a seven-year-old boy named Yamato. We both died when we were hit by something faster than a carriage. I remembered my past life about a month before I met you, Jest. Alan seems to have remembered when he saw you, probably because you look like our brother from our past lives.”

“Justin and Alan’s brother?”

“Yeah, remember when Alan called you ‘Hinata-nii-chan’? It’s because you look like Hinata, and you’re also about the same age as him.”

“Oh, so that’s why I look like Hinata-nii-chan. I was almost jealous, thinking that Hinata-nii-chan was the most important to you.”

“Haha, I thought all my brothers were equally adorable. Even the cheeky second brother.”

“… Justin, you seem different than usual.”

Jest stared at me, observing closely.

“That’s probably because he’s acting more like our big brother from the past life. He looks different, but he’s just like how our brother used to be.”

Alan looked at me with a nostalgic smile. It wasn’t the smile of a young child, but one of an adult who had endured many hardships. It made me feel the years that Yamato… or rather, Alan, had lived.

“Well… Normally, I try to act the way I did before I remembered my past life. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to give orders to subordinates who are older than me. While my memories of this world are clear now, when I first remembered, it felt strange.”

“I get that. Even now, it feels like my current personality and my past life’s personality are mixing together.”

“Don’t worry, eventually they’ll blend together smoothly, and it won’t feel weird anymore. It wouldn’t be good for someone your age to get too caught up in Yamato, haha.”

I can laugh about it now, but at first, I was really worried. Alan’s face turned red, probably remembering when he first met us and cried his eyes out.

“Th-that aside, I wanted to ask something. In the memories I remembered, I didn’t see our father. Why is that?”

“That’s because… when Yamato was five, he died in a car accident…”

“Then, isn’t it strange that we could live normally after that? I remember Mom working, but one woman’s salary wouldn’t be enough, right?”

“Well… it’s true that Mom working helped, but we also had Dad’s life insurance, compensation from the person responsible for the accident, survivor’s pensions, and other things, so we managed without too much hardship.”

“Life insurance… survivor’s pensions… What are those? Does that mean the families of those who died in this recent operation could live off that?”

It seems Alan is now worried about the families of the adventurers who died in the recent subjugation mission. A first-grader wouldn’t know much about how insurance works, after all.

Since I wasn’t confident in explaining survivor’s pensions accurately, I skipped over that and gave a simple explanation of how insurance works.

“So, it might be best to ask the guild to organize this. Though I’m not sure if the guildmaster would actually do it…”

“But, you know, sometimes you can’t even get insurance if you have dangerous jobs. And adventuring is definitely a dangerous job, right? If more people get injured than stay unharmed, the system could collapse. Plus, I’m not sure if adventurers even have the financial stability to pay for insurance.”

Racers, for example, aren’t covered by insurance for injuries sustained during races. Given the nature of adventurers, they might get careless if we set up an insurance system. They will think that it would all be fine in the end no matter what injury they sustain. When I explained this, Alan groaned, holding his head in his hands.

“Yeah, if we do it, we might have to limit it to deaths that occur while on the job or impose other specific conditions. There are a lot of things to consider, like how this would increase the workload for guild staff, or how the benefit might only apply if they die in the town where they’re registered. It won’t be easy.”

“No, no, I think it’s worth doing, even with limited conditions! I’ll talk to the guildmaster when we get back to Frales! Thanks, big brother!”

As our conversation wrapped up, there was a knock on the door.

“Captain Justin, it’s Marcel from Orel’s squad. I’ve come to report!”

It seems the saintess is returning from the Holy Kingdom sooner than expected. I shifted my mindset from Naoki to Justin and invited Marcel into the room.