Chapter 180: The Promise with Sebas
Sebas had, in truth, seen it coming for a long time.
Lord Lucian was an extraordinarily perceptive person — that much he had confirmed from their very first meeting. A young man who could draw so much from so little would naturally have noticed every inconsistency in the "imperial merchant's butler" standing in front of him.
And beyond that: after arriving in the Dragon Kingdom, Sebas had essentially stopped trying to hide what he was capable of. Whether it was destroying the bear-beastman column or standing against the beastman army head-on, none of it was anything a retired old butler should have been able to do. There was no explaining it away.
He had suspected for some time that Lord Lucian had already worked it out, and was simply choosing not to say so.
So when Lucian finally said the words aloud, Sebas felt no surprise. What he felt instead was something closer to relief — an at last.
But it wasn't a serious problem, Sebas thought.
Lord Lucian was someone Ainz-sama held in high regard. He was also someone Touch Me-sama revered and depended upon. That connection, as far as Sebas was concerned, meant Lord Lucian and Nazarick were already on the same side. This conversation was simply happening a little earlier than expected.
What he was more curious about was the timing.
Why now? Why had Lucian chosen this particular moment — right after Touch Me-sama's [Innate Ability] had awakened?
Sebas waited for the answer.
The evening around them had grown heavier. From the distance came the muffled sounds of soldiers clearing the battlefield — the low groans of the wounded, the scrape and thud of timber being moved — sounds that wove together into something formless and sad.
Lucian was quiet for a moment, as though arranging his words carefully.
In the fading light, those pale green eyes were more serious than Sebas had ever seen them. It was a different face from the easy, unhurried manner Lucian usually wore.
"Sebas," Lucian finally said. "When we were in the Dragon Kingdom, you once asked me about reincarnation — and about [Innate Abilities]."
Sebas gave a small nod. His gaze drifted briefly toward Touch Me before returning.
"At the time, I told you that an [Innate Ability] is the core evidence for confirming reincarnation." Lucian's voice dropped slightly. "But there was something else I didn't tell you."
He held Sebas's gaze directly.
"[Innate Abilities] can also awaken after birth. Some people go their entire lives without ever discovering theirs — but under certain extreme emotional conditions, it can be triggered into existence."
Sebas's breath caught.
He turned it over in his mind. With Lord Lucian's breadth of knowledge, he would certainly have known about late-awakening cases. And yet he hadn't mentioned it then. Why?
Lucian saw the shift in Sebas's expression. The corner of his mouth curved into something that wasn't quite a smile.
He didn't explain immediately. Instead, he asked first.
"Sebas — you've already confirmed it, haven't you. Touch Me's [Innate Ability], and the person you respect..."
Sebas paused for just a moment. Then he nodded, once, without hesitation. His voice was quieter than before, but there was not a shadow of doubt in it.
"That force that cut through space... it is exactly the same. Identical to that person's. There is no mistake."
Lucian let out a long, slow breath. The sound of it was heavy in the dimming air — as though something that had been pressing down for a long time had finally been released.
He was quiet for a moment before he continued.
"Sebas, the reason I didn't tell you any of this when you asked — part of it was because holders of [Innate Abilities] are rare to begin with, and late-awakenings are rarer still. I didn't want to give you unnecessary hope. I didn't want you carrying an illusion for years and ending up disappointed."
Sebas's throat moved slightly. He didn't interrupt.
"But the more important reason," Lucian said, his pace slowing, the words careful, as though a decision had been made and remade before each one, "is that I didn't want Touch Me to be that person's reincarnation."
Sebas blinked. "Why?"
Lucian's gaze moved past Sebas's shoulder, settling on the slight figure of the boy not far away.
"Sebas, you must belong to a very large organization." There was something almost wistful in Lucian's voice as he laid out his reasoning. "Someone with your level of ability, traveling with a young lady who needs looking after — that doesn't come from an ordinary background."
Sebas didn't deny it. He gave a quiet nod.
"Large organizations have endless disputes and conflicts." Lucian's expression shifted into something that looked very much like an older brother's worry. "I don't want Touch Me anywhere near that."
He paused, as though reaching back to something.
"Whatever Touch Me was in another life — to me, he's just Touch Me. The boy who went to school in the Aindra domain and worked himself to exhaustion on the training ground every day. That's all."
Sebas's lips moved as though he wanted to speak.
Lucian didn't give him the opening.
"So, Sebas, I'm asking you to keep what you know — about Touch Me and reincarnation — to yourself. I trust that you're a good person. But the people behind you aren't all going to be good people. If Touch Me's identity were exposed, his life could be in danger."
He paused, and something passed through his eyes — a flash of something complicated.
"Sebas, do you remember what happened in the capital?"
Lucian's voice dropped. Each word came out as though forced through clenched teeth.
"Those people were bound by blood, and they still went through with it. The people in your organization who have no connection to Touch Me whatsoever — if they learned of his existence, what exactly would make you certain they'd treat him well?"
He said nothing more after that. He simply looked at Sebas and waited.
Sebas was silent for a long time.
He thought about what Lucian had described — the second son of a baron in the capital who had killed his own capable elder brother for the right to inherit a title. Killing blood relations for gain was not unusual among humans.
But the Great Tomb of Nazarick was different.
The trust the Supreme Beings held for one another. The care they had for everything they created. What was carved into the deepest places of Sebas's soul had nothing in common with that kind of petty noble scheming.
"Lord Lucian, you're worrying needlessly." Sebas's voice carried a steady certainty. "Touch Me-sama is the reincarnation of that person. In Nazarick, he would receive the highest of treatment."
He meant to let that confidence carry the point, to set Lucian's concerns to rest.
"The Guardians would honor him. That Supreme Being would cherish him. Nazarick is nothing like what you're imagining."
Lucian didn't yield. Those pale green eyes remained on Sebas with the same undiminished seriousness.
"Sebas — can you truly guarantee that?"
Sebas met his gaze.
"I stake my life and my honor on it. What you fear will not come to pass."
Neither of them stepped back. The evening pressed in between them like something solid, the air still enough that the silence had weight.
The tension had nearly reached its breaking point —
"I'll do what Lord Lucian says."
A clear voice cut in from beside them, sharp and clean as a pair of scissors through a drawn wire.
Sebas and Lucian both turned at the same moment.
Touch Me had gotten to his feet at some point and was walking toward them. He was still holding Leno's body, but his steps were steadier than they had been before.
Those deep blue eyes were still red at the edges, but the look in them had settled back into something firm.
He came to a stop in front of the two of them.
"Lord Lucian's words are what I'm thinking." Touch Me's voice was slightly rough, but his meaning was clear. "I was picked up by Lord Lucian in the capital. Lord Lucian raised me. Lord Lucian taught me what was right. If Lord Lucian doesn't want me to reveal my identity, then I won't."
He said it with his gaze fixed on Sebas, and in those eyes was the particular stubbornness and open sincerity that belonged to someone still young enough not to hide either.
This was the moment Lucian had been waiting for — Touch Me's wishes in direct conflict with the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
So then, Sebas. What will you choose?
Sebas looked at Touch Me's eyes.
However many times Touch Me-sama is reincarnated, the color of that noble soul shines just as brightly.
Sebas lowered his gaze.
Silence spread among the three of them. The wind came in from the direction of the valley, carrying fine dust with it.
And then —
Sebas went down on one knee.
The movement was quiet. His knee met the ground without a sound, swallowed by the wind. But that posture said more than any words could. The hem of his black tailcoat settled into the dust. His silver-streaked hair bowed slightly forward.
"As you wish, Touch Me-sama."
Lucian looked at the old man kneeling before him, and felt his heart beat one beat faster than usual.
He pressed down the smile that was threatening to reach his mouth, kept his expression held in place, and let it shift instead into something that looked like relief.
He'd done it. Sebas had agreed.
Lucian understood better than anyone what this promise meant.
It was different from Sebas's earlier promise to resurrect Leno. What Touch Me was asking of him now — to keep his identity hidden, to conceal this from Nazarick — was something the other Guardians would regard as close to betrayal.
And yet Sebas had chosen Touch Me without flinching.
Which meant that for Sebas, Touch Me's priority now stood above Nazarick's.
The dust was still on Sebas's knee as he rose. His gaze stayed on Touch Me.
The boy stood in the evening light, Leno's body held against him, the gold of his short hair stirred by the late wind. Those deep blue eyes held nothing but seriousness and conviction.
Sebas looked at that young face, and something complex moved through him.
He had made the promise. He would protect Touch Me-sama's identity.
That meant he would have to conceal nearly everything about Touch Me from Ainz-sama.
Sebas understood perfectly well: with Ainz-sama's intelligence and perception, even reporting the smallest detail about Touch Me-sama would be enough for Ainz-sama to see the connection immediately.
Ainz-sama would press him on it.
And at that point — what was he supposed to say?
Sebas's throat moved slightly. But he pushed the unease down and settled it.
Not the moment to worry about that.
He turned and found Lucian's gaze waiting for him.
The young lord was watching him, his eyes full of a quiet, genuine warmth.
"Sebas, I know I've put you in a difficult position." Lucian's apology was sincere. "But please understand — I only want to protect Touch Me."
Sebas opened his mouth to say he didn't find it difficult at all.
Lucian raised a hand and stopped him. "That said — I've thought carefully about what you told me."
Sebas went slightly still.
"Your organization — if it really is what you described. If it genuinely values its people and cares for each other..." Lucian paused, choosing his words. "Then for Touch Me, it might genuinely be a good place to go."
Something lit up in Sebas's eyes.
"But I still hope," Lucian continued, "that Touch Me makes that choice himself."
"He's not ready yet. His judgment still needs time to grow. A decision this significant should belong to him." Lucian's tone took on a deliberate weight as he made his proposal. "So — how about this. Three years from now, when Touch Me turns eighteen — if he still wants to learn about the organization behind you, I'll let him go."
He paused. "But until then, Sebas, I need you to promise me you'll keep Touch Me's identity secret."
Sebas was quiet.
Three years wasn't so long.
If Touch Me-sama could establish a connection with Ainz-sama before then, surely with Ainz-sama's generosity and warmth he would come to feel Nazarick as something worth belonging to.
By that time, Touch Me-sama would return to Nazarick of his own will.
Sebas looked at Lucian's face, and felt the genuine care for Touch Me that lived behind the words.
Lord Lucian was truly thinking of Touch Me-sama's future. He wasn't trying to keep Touch Me-sama by his side forever — he was asking, from the place of an older brother, only for the boy to have enough time to grow into someone ready to face what was ahead.
Sebas had no argument against that.
He inclined his head. "I give you my word, Lord Lucian."
The tension finally left Lucian's brow entirely. A smile of relief found the corner of his mouth.
"Good," he said. "Then that's settled."
Sebas watched that smile, and felt the wire that had been drawn tight inside him ease a degree.
Three years from now, what Touch Me-sama would find waiting for him would be a home worth returning to.
Lucian looked at Sebas's expression of quiet relief, and felt something shift in his own chest — something he couldn't quite name.
He knew, of course, exactly what Sebas was thinking.
But... Sebas would probably figure out the catch before too long.
If Sebas told Ainz about Touch Me's identity, Ainz would almost certainly move to resurrect Leno. After all, she was someone precious to Touch Me-sama's reincarnation — there was no reason for Ainz to refuse.
But now Sebas had to stay silent.
He couldn't reveal Touch Me's identity to Ainz, and he still had to honor the promise to bring Leno back.
With those two things standing side by side, there was only one road left.
Sebas would have to lie to Ainz.
So then — would even someone as upright as Sebas... begin, piece by piece, to fall?
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