WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ Academy’s Pure Love Dark Knight

Chapter 078

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Episode 78. An Emotion Like a Shot of Fireworks.

At a weapon shop in the empire,

"Haha! How about this!"

"..Please show me something else."

"What? Not this one either? Then how about this helmet..!"

A dwarf with a black beard was raising his voice and talking to a tree monster.

"Mardol.."

"What? Licht?"

Mardol looked around the display cases and shook her head, seemingly dissatisfied.

"..My costume. Couldn't we just do it roughly?"

"No."

She kept looking back and forth between me and the equipment the dwarf brought, as if pondering my costume. She's picky. Is it because she's a princess?

"Can you bring out all the helmets here? Only the black ones."

"Don't you regret it! Customer!"

Then the dwarf let out a hearty laugh. Carrying a box bigger than himself, he walked to the back of the counter.

"What kind of helmet are you looking for to be this persistent?"

It's my costume, not yours. She seems to have some kind of romance with the Dullahan. Or there's no reason for her to personally pick them out like this.

"..Black Knight."

Ah, she wants a black helmet like the one I'm wearing. I'll need to buy a lightweight armor set too.

"Wouldn't that be too expensive? I still need to buy armor."

"I'll buy it for you. Licht."

"Please don't do that. Friends aren't bought with money."

Doing something like that could easily be held against me. Besides, there's no need for others to know I'm overflowing with wealth.

I recalled how Lupus was treated like a walking piggy bank in <Black Heart>.

'Is it because she's a sister? There's a similarity after all.'

Then this person must be beautiful too. A beautiful girl with black hair and wolf ears? But that's the complete opposite of our Saintess. Both in personality and appearance.

I rested my chin on my hand and thought. Whether it's okay to maintain this ambiguous relationship.

'In the end, the Grand Route ending could get tangled, and I'm keeping my distance because I'm afraid of growing apart from our Saintess...'

She's not a bad person. Rather, she's good enough to say so. That's what makes this so tricky.

"..Licht. What are you thinking?"

"Nothing at all?"

"..Liar."

I sighed. Because she's the protagonist of <Knight Heart Trilogy>. Most protagonists are benevolent. Dennis and Kainel are the same.

Besides, since she's the protagonist, she'll have her own love line with someone other than the player, right?

'If I'd known she was a woman from the start, I'd never have reconsidered things to this extent.'

Because of this, it was originally better not to pay any attention to the main heroine.

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to save her, like in the final battle of the sequel. Some might say, what's so great about a mere game character.

'But I owe her my life.'

Still, I was saved by the Saintess. My one and only light, who brightened a world full of darkness.

The warm emotion of the Nameless Saintess saved a single person. A supporting character, not even a main lead.

Maybe, in reality, just a small resting place is enough for a person to live.

"..."

This cold world needs that. Because it's a place overflowing with Demon Kings. Finishing my thoughts, I looked at Mardol.

"Licht, why are you suddenly looking at me..?"

"I'm thinking about you."

"..Huh?"

Mardol Gransia.

I've already learned a lot about her. A person who hides her identity because she's entangled with Magic Hat, and wears glass armor because of it.

Right now, she looked like a huge tree monster because of the costume.

"Licht. Wait. Why is this real.."

An unfortunate princess who could be called unfortunate and unlucky.

Though overflowing with wealth and power, aside from that, she was a similar type of person to me when I was young.

That point keeps catching my eye. She must have had a hard time with nowhere to lean. Because I was the same.

"Just because I'm a little worried about you, Mardol."

"..Why?"

"You remind me of someone I know."

A bitter smile formed. It might be a self-indulgent guess and a self-indulgent consolation. Call me a hypocrite, or see it as cheap sympathy, I didn't care.

"That person again?"

"No. Completely different."

"..Licht."

I now know that to be saved, a person doesn't need tremendous sacrifice or effort. What the pure white woman did for me.

"I hope you open your heart to someone other than me, Mardol."

"..."

Just one word.

A single warm word can be a great help to someone.

'It's best to overcome the trauma to some extent and keep her by my side as a comrade.'

Besides, pushing her away now could lead to big trouble. Cutting off a heroine with some story? It's easy to enter a corruption route or twist in a bad direction.

'Mardol might actually lock me up in the imperial palace basement.'

Or we could become hostile. Considering what's happened so far, it's entirely possible. A chill ran down my spine.

"I'm still weak.. so I can't. Licht."

Just as I was finding it strange that Mardol's eyes were shaking as if broken,

"Here! All the helmets from our shop that you asked for!"

The dwarf came carrying a box bigger than himself and placed it on the floor with a thud.

"..Mm. Good."

"That's a lot? I thought black helmets would be rare."

"What do you take our dwarven craftsmanship for! This much is easy!"

Dozens of black helmets. Mardol took each one out, even carefully turning them, checking if they suited me.

"..It has to be uglier than the one you're wearing. Disqualified."

That's a very strange standard. Mardol. I also rummaged through the box to find a usable helmet. A rough color caught my hand.

"Oh, customer! You have an eye! That's our weapon shop's best-selling item!"

"..I think this one is good."

"I should have recognized it from when you were wearing that helmet!"

Then the dwarf said something strange to me. 'That helmet'? Is he talking about the special item I'm wearing now? I pointed to my own helmet.

"Are you, by any chance, talking about this?"

"Yeah, that one! I think it even comes with underwater breathing! Where on earth did you get equipment like that!"

"..I got it by luck."

Because I got a boss global first kill. It's equipment I got from catching Magic Hat, so I thought there might be something special about it. I guess a dwarf can recognize it.

"It looks like it was made by our 'Immovable Mountain' himself. I can see his signature wave pattern!"

"Then this one is also from the Ten Greats…."

"No, this is just something I imitated! It only looks fancy on the outside!"

So the equipment I'm wearing is at least a masterpiece on par with Mardol's. What good does that do? It's bound to me like a cursed item and won't come off.

In this game, there are many items that are high rank but have bad performance.

'The additional ability is probably the status window...'

It might be because of this helmet that I can see the status window.

Because it's an ability only I have in this world. It was the closest hypothesis I could think of now.

'If only it had given me a Holy Sword.'

A sigh escaped. To fight the Demon King, a sword would be more effective than this helmet. For that reason, I've come to the point of even forging a fake Holy Sword with my heart.

"Let's go with this one."

"..I think so too, Mardol."

Suddenly. Just as I was trying to think about something that bothered me, she stared at the helmet I was holding and nodded.

"It's quite expensive. Are you sure about your wallet?"

"It's fine. Do you have any armor too?"

"Of course! A good choice!"

She held out something shiny and golden. A gold coin of the empire with a wolf emblem. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Mardol. Wait..!"

"Together, quickly, pay for it."

"Hahaha! You two are very close!"

Absolutely not. It's more like rivals or comrades, a business relationship.

I reached out to stop Mardol, but she blocked me with one hand.

The strength of the Wolf King. I forgot because the situation was too shocking. Why? Didn't I clear all the flags?

"Since it's really expensive, this is the first time I've seen someone calculate it all at once including the armor!"

"..It looks luxurious, so it's ugly."

"Right! This is close to decorative, not for combat! So it can't help but be ugly!"

Though it was close to criticism, the black-bearded dwarf, seeing the gold coin, grinned broadly, unfazed. Dwarves really are perverts.

"Mardol. I don't need this kind of favor."

"It's okay. Licht. I wanted to do this for you."

If she goes this far, it's too burdensome. The princess, who had quickly brought even a black armor set, stood beside me.

"Hurry and try it on."

"..Understood."

Mardol's impulsive actions. Thus, before heading to the club room, I ended up becoming a heavily armed black knight.

"Yeah, just as I thought."

"..."

A knight from head to toe in black was reflected in the mirror.

It looks similar in appearance to the corruption route glitch, but this side fits better with the helmet I'm wearing.

"You have a good eye."

"Right. Licht. How did you know?"

Mardol's shining golden wolf eyes curved like a crescent moon, looking pleased.

***

Originally, I only intended to buy materials, but I ended up finishing my costume and coming out.

"..I wonder what Kainel's reaction will be when we go back to the club room."

"He'll be so surprised he'll fall over. Probably."

I'm a Dullahan holding a black knight helmet. The other side is Quercus the Forest Keeper.

In a way, we're both on the side of protecting something. A tree monster that guards the forest, and a black knight is a knight who sacrifices for someone.

"..Awoo. Awooo."

"Quercus doesn't howl like that."

Just then. Mardol, cupping her branch-decorated hands toward me, let out a wolf howl. Werewolves are scary. Someone keeps overlapping. This shouldn't happen.

"Then grrr..?"

"That's not it either? Grrr."

There's a saying that blood is thicker than water. Since Lupus also showed a similar side to our Saintess, is this natural? I mimicked the sound Quercus makes.

"Uh..? Mardol. That…."

While I was lost in past memories, I caught something strange.

"Hiiiiik!!"

A carriage crossing the imperial city was about to hit a child. I immediately used Wolf Fang to dash forward.

Clang. The helmet I just bought fell to the ground without even time to hold it and run, and I blocked the path of a child wearing a wizard's hat.

The startled coachman pulled the reins trying to stop the horse, but it was futile. As if proving the already unstoppable speed, dust rose.

'Am I too late..!'

A child crying while sitting down. I left the helmet behind and had no means. Too close to the carriage to hold the child and escape. Will I get hit like this?

If I get hit first, I'll be seriously injured, but I hope this child ends up without much injury.

"..Be careful. Licht."

Just then. Mardol used magic to lift me and the child into the air. The carriage passing below a transparent glass floor.

"Mardol. Thank you."

Thanks to the floor where we were standing floating up like a flying carpet, the situation seemed to end without anyone getting hurt.

"..Dad?"

"What?"

That is, until the girl with black hair I just saved said something strange while looking at me.

"The black knight armor..! You are Dad!"

I've been single my whole life.

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