“The crown is a magical artifact which makes you appear as that specific person. The illusion is supposed to be perfect.” Bernice spoke quietly.

She was sitting on the throne with her head down, a complicated expression on her face as I tried to get to the bottom of what was going on.

“Are you saying Lord Reign is an illusion?”

“I’m saying that anyone who wears the crown will appear as Lord Reign.”

“That meant that the man I saw back then was someone else wearing this crown.” I contemplated out loud. “It was probably Demon Lord Aberis or one of his goons. It was no wonder when I handed him that anti-illusion artifact, he acted so affronted. He probably thought I knew his true identity. That would explain why he ultimately sent the knights to assassinate me.”

“The real question I want to know is how did Bernice end up wearing it?” Alysia asked.

“It’s not that strange. It was only a couple of weeks after Demon Lord Aberis left Alerith that the bond I had to you was cut. I took the opportunity to return to my home city. The rumor was that Lord Reign gave an order that he wasn’t to be disturbed. He retreated to his chambers, and no one heard a thing from him for two weeks. Everyone who came was denied.”

“So, it was something so simple…”

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“I grew curious, so I use my position to stay as a guest in his mansion. I then snuck into his quarters one night and found the crown. Realizing what this all meant, I put on his crown and came out of seclusion. I realized I could do more good pretending to be Lord Reign than I could as Viscount Castille.”

“What? You’re a Viscount?”

Bernard blinked. “I’m a noble. You didn’t know?”

“Why didn’t you tell me!”

“It should have been obvious?”

“H-how is that obvious?”

Her eyebrow twitched. “First off, I have a last name. Second off, I was known as the Demon-slaying hero.”

I opened my mouth and then closed it again. It was true that only nobles had last names. When you became a noble, you were able to select your last name and sigil, and that would represent your house. This was how situations arrived like the Aberis family. The former King Edward named himself Aberis after his defeated foe, or perhaps he named the kingdom Aberis and then named himself after the Kingdom. Either way, it gave me a headache sometimes. There was also Xin Greggar, who was a princess of the Greggar family. Even though my real last name was Williams, the prince had selected Deekson without consulting me, so that was my family name.

I had never considered that Bernard, at least when she first introduced herself, had a last name. Furthermore, while you didn’t need to be a hero to be a noble, most heroes eventually earned noble status. It was also advantageous for a low-level noble to get a hero job, as Otto Tibult had tried to do when I first came to to this world.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised if you were a Knight, but how did you make it to Viscount?” I asked.

“You’ve never shown interest in my story before.” She grumbled.

“I guess there is a time for everything. Humor me.”

I had promised myself that I would make an effort to know more about the girls, and not take so much for granted. In a way, this was my first chance to spend more time learning about the girls and their past.